How to Read Your Meter
Residential gas meters have one or two dials marked 10 feet or
less. These should not be read. They are used for testing only.
The dials that record the amount of gas used are the four
grouped together that are marked 1 thousand and over. (Larger
meters will have five dials. Notice that each dial is numbered in
the opposite direction from the dial next to it.)
Although your meter dials may not look quite like the ones here,
these instructions can be used to read most residential meters.
Each dial represents a single number in the reading.
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CAUTION: The meter can be read
easily without touching it or any of the parts. Tampering with the
meter can be dangerous and it is illegal.
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Read the meter dials right to left, writing down the numbers in
the same order-right to left. If the hand points between two
numbers, always use the lower number. When the hand points between
nine and zero, always read it as nine.
When the hand seems to be directly on a number, look at the dial to
the right. If the hand on that dial is on or just past zero, write
down the number the hand is pointing toward on the dial you are
reading.
If the hand on the dial to the right hasn't reached zero, write
down the smaller number on the dial you are reading. When reading
the far right hand dial, write down the number the hand appears to
be pointing toward, because there is no dial to the right to
check.
The correct reading for this meter is 7867. This means that 7867
hundred cubic feet of gas has passed through the meter since all
dials were on zero. Another way to write this amount is 786,700
cubic feet.
To compute your gas bill, the number of CCFs* used during the
current billing period multiplied by the current BTU factor to
determine the number of therms used.
(*CCF is a measure of the volume
of gas used, while the BTU factor tells how much heat each CCF of
gas contains. The BTU factor is a characteristic of the gas and may
vary a little from month to month. Multiplying the CCF used by the
BTU factor converts the units to an energy measurement(therm). One
Therm is equal to 100,000 BTUs).
