Electric Meter ......

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Take the Mystery Out of Your Electric Meter ......

As sure as the sun rises, San Isabel receives questions every winter from our consumers about their meters and their bills.

This winter the question is, "The weather has been so mild that there is no way our bill could be that high." Last winter the inquiry was, "I know it's been cold, but my bill is still too high."

No matter what the weather is like, we still get questions. If you think your bill is too high and there must be something wrong with your meter, keep reading.

A meter is only a measuring device. You are billed for the electricity your household consumes each month, like you pay for the gasoline you pump into your car. You pay only for the gas that actually goes into your car. You are billed only for the exact amount of energy needed to "power your home."

		Your electric meter registers only the electricity your appliances are drawing into your home. We do not force electricity through your meter into your home. As an experiment, find your meter and flip the breaker off beneath it. The disk inside the meter that drives the gears that turn the numbers will stop. In effect, you are turning "off" your whole house.
		If there is nothing drawing power into your home, you are not being billed for any electric use. As soon as you flip the breaker back on, the disk will gain begin to turn in proportion to how much electricity your appliances need at that moment. The faster the disk spins inside the meter the faster you accumulate kilowatt-hours. As another experiment, try to notice the difference between how fast the disk spins with your dryer on and with it off. With most residential meters, the disk has to turn 138-8/9 times to register one kilowatt-hour (which costs roughly eight cents). With the dryer on, you will see that it won't take long to accumulate one kilowatt hour.
		Any appliance that heats costs more to operate, be it a dryer, electric water heater, stock tank heater, or hair dryer.
		Your electric meter records electric consumption 24 hours a day, every day. Many appliances run regardless of whether or not you are home. Your refrigerator, waterbed heater, clocks, water heater, heating system, etc., all run while you are away. Occupancy generally accounts for only a 10 to 20 percent increase in your electric consumption. Often consumers believe that their meter must not be working correctly and request that the meter be tested.
		The odds of you winning the Colorado Lottery jackpot are better than your meter being "too fast". For the most part, meters either work or they don't. If they are calibrated correctly, they are registering kilowatt-hours correctly. At San Isabel we test every residential meter every eight years. We do not install any meter that is not calibrated to within one-quarter (.25) of one percent of perfect (100 percent). One interesting phenomenon is that many people believe their bill is the "fault" of the electric company. To use the car analogy again, would you blame the gas station if your car didn't get 40 mpg? Doesn't make sense, does it?
		Your bill is your own. Until you get a handle on any malfunctioning appliance and take stock of how much electricity your appliances use, your bill and your meter will always be a mystery. Unfortunately, electricity is one of the few things we buy after we use it. However, you can use your meter to control your consumption and track consumption patterns.
		Your meter is your friend. Take daily and weekly meter readings to establish your own patterns. Check the meter disk speed to help identify problem circuits and appliances. And finally:
		Please call us if you have questions about rates, bills, or meters before you have a problem.

Once you understand the basics, you are well on your way to becoming an "enlightened" electric consumer.

 

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