How To Read A Water Meter
To make sure you're paying the right amount on your monthly water bill, you should know how to read your water meter and compare it to the amount your utility company thinks it should charge you. As several readers pointed out previously, in some cities you can even do your own meter reading and call in the number each month. "But how do I read my water meter?" Here's how.
These instructions are taken from the City of San Diego website, and they should take care of most meter scenarios,
Find your meter!
It's probably outside, near the curb, in a direct line with your main outside faucet. If you live in a colder part of the country, it may be indoors instead.
In the case of the $3600 water bill lady, her real meter was in her basement while a remote meter for public access was located outside.
It is housed in a concrete box usually marked "water." Carefully remove the lid by using a tool such as a large screwdriver. Insert the tool into one of the holes and pry the lid off.
Read your meter!
For the odometer-style meter, just copy down the numbers printed above or below "cubic feet." Ignore the giant dial that sweeps the meter like a clock hand. Only the underpants gnomes know what that's used for.
A couple of things to note:
This number represents all the water that's passed through the meter since it was installed, not just since your last bill;
Some utilities drop the last two digits (the ones with a black background). If your utility company goes by 100 cubic feet increments, you drop the last two numbers.
Here's an example:
In the meter at the right, the reading is taken from the figures shown under the words CUBIC FEET. The meter reads 81,710, which is the total number of cubic feet of water recorded since the meter was installed. Because our charge is based on units of 100 cubic feet, the meter reader discards the last two numbers (the ones with the black background). So, this reading would actually be 817.
So, if by the time the we read your bills the next time you had used 1,200 cubic feet of water, the new reading would be 82,910 (81,710 plus 1,200). Again, we'd drop the last two numbers and your official reading would be 829. Your bill would be figured by subtracting the old number (817) from the new number (829). You would then be billed for 12 units.
If, god forbid, you have a crazy old-timey dial meter, here's some info on how to read that one (it's easier than it looks). Sadly, the person who invented this dial hates humanity and made it so that every other dial rotates counterclockwise, but you can ignore that nonsense and just quickly find each number starting with the dial in the northwest quadrant. An easy way to tell where to start: that dial will have "100,000" printed above it. Record the smaller of the two numbers the hand is between, and move clockwise around the meter.
In this example taken from h2ouse.org, you end up with 806323. (The last digit is tricky because there are no numbers on the dial, but the same rule applies.)
Want more examples or help? Try these sites:
Read Your Meter [H2ouse.org]
How to Read Your Water Meter [City of San Diego]
How to read your water meter [LCRA.org]
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Comments:
That "old-timey" meter is exactly like the NEW gas meter the company installed a few months back. It's really not hard to read. Just like telling time on a clock, but semi-dyslexic. You don't usually need the last two digits (as you mentioned with water)
I live in Central IL (where it gets below 0F in the winter), and I believe our water meter is located under some kind of metal cap thing in our yard near the curb. We don't have ready access to it, and I think you need special tools to remove the cap.
So why would our meter be outside if it freezes to frequently here? And how the heck to we verify our water bill if that's the case?
It is also notable that some municipalities do not meter water, and either charge a flat rate, or roll it into your property taxes alongside garbage pickup.
This is the case in Schenectady, NY.
Actually, you SHOULD glance at the sweeping clock hand. If all your water is off and it's moving, you have a leak.
The odometer can move so slowly you don't notice, but the sweeping hand is much more sensitive.
This was my first clue I had a leak in a rarely-used fixture.
@Eyebrows McGee: I mean, if all the fixtures in your house are off and it's moving. If you actually cut off the water and it moves, I blame poltergeist. :)
@lannister80: In our locale it is AGAINST the law to open the meter box, so you have to have faith in their reading of the meters.
@kc2idf: Clear Lake, TX does that too. I get both a flat rate and an additional property tax bill. I'm not sure if it's actually supposed to be a flat rate, though, since they actually specify a usage amount, but it never changes (I have confirmed that my neighbors pay the same amount, so it's not just me being consistent).
You can call-in (or, if not living in the 1950s, internet-in) a meter reading for electricity too (at least with LIPA where I live).
My PoCo does actual readings every 60 days and estimated readings on the bills in between. If the estimates start getting silly, internet 'em in.
Probably works for gas too, if you have gas. (HAH, gas!).
@PorkchopSandwiches!_GitEmSteveDave: Ask any architect or builder and they'd tell you about something called the frost level. Up north, you have to build foundations further into the ground (usually why they have basements) to go underneath this frost depth. I'd agree in florida the ground may be 60F all year round, but not in minnesota. At least not till you hit a few feet.
@Chris Walters: This reminds me that I should have mentioned the low flow indicator. If you have a little triangular doo-hickey on your meter (it's blue in this image) and it's spinning even when everything is turned off in your home, then it's a sign that water is flowing somewhere.
I recieved my Natural Gas bill on Saturday. It was 10 times the normal amount. It was simply misread. I called it in and it was reread this morning. All is well now.
@lannister80: I'm in Central IL too; mine's in the basement in a really weird place. If the metal thing is like a mushroom, it's actually access to the water main.
(Do you have IL American Water? My understanding is typically for their service the water comes in from the street and the city sanitary sewer goes out to the back, so you'd look for incoming pipes in the front. Also, sometimes people renovating older homes paneled over the water meter.)
Actually the metal cap in your yard is the main shut off valve (the point where your water line connects with the main water line.) The cap can be removed and a special key is inserted to turn the water on/off for emergencies (or sometimes in the case of non-payment.)
*most* water meters are NOT located outside. They are typically indoors, in a basement or ground level room such as a utility/laundry room or in a crawlspace if there's no basement or utility room. They typically need to be in a heat controlled area so that they don't freeze because the "head" of the meter will crack and stop reading. They are also typically wired to a pin/button/radio reading unit on the outside of the home so that the municipality may obtain a reading of the meter without having to have access to the inside of the home.
I live in NYC and found that ConEd only "read" meters every 2-4 months and the rest of the time, they estimated the bills. I don't know what they were estimating them off of (other than years prior) but my actual bills would always be around $70 for elect & $20 for gas. My estimated bills would be around $300 elect & $200 for gas... I did find that they would let you read your own meter and submit and they would bill you off of that.
It's a huge savings for those that would otherwise get screwed by the estimated readings. Just make sure you're reading it right.
@GeorgeHb: While that's true for your electric (and maybe even your gas) meter, the Con Ed meter readers now read your water meter here in NYC. I've been submitting my electric readings for over 8 years now (house is all electric) but there's an outside connection for the meter reader to get the water info. I also record it myself from the actual meter that's in the basement.
Most of the water meters in my county have radio transmitters that remotely broadcast readings, nobody comes to read them anymore.
@chemmy:
Not as much as you think. I bet if you called it in you'd pay the same over the three month period (assuming gas prices dont change much)
We regularly check out meters due to the fact that our bill often has no relationship to our meter (in our city if the meter is not actually read the bill has to state ESTIMATED in big bold letters).
The first time we had a water bill issue it took us considerable time to locate the meter (the first hint that the City was not reading it) because it was somewhat buried under dirt and weeds. In our city its the home owners responsibility to make sure the meter is accessible so if its buried or if you lock your gate (the city will provide city approved locks for gates) and you end up with an estimated bill its your own fault.
@Oranges w/ Cheese: I'm picking a new theme everyday(almost). The "GitEmSteveDave" will be constant(mostly)' though. Today's was inspired by a map of the Star Wars Universe on Gizmodo. Yesterday's "PorkchopSandwiches" was inspired by the remastered GI Joe "now you know" segment(NSFW-Language).
this is a great post. Just last month we got a water bill for $350 - 5 times the normal amount. I freaked out, thinking I had a leak. I tried to check the meter but it was flooded due to all the rain. I had them do a reread, but then I went out myself and bailed the meter out (in the rain) using a water glass. Voila- they had misread the meter by a factor of 5. now, they adjusted my bill, and it still seems too high (they only gave me an adjusted total, not the full breakdown)...but at least I don't have a leak.
There's a potential order of magnitude problem with the old-style meter. The article seems to imply that the example reads 806,323 cubic feet, but it might actually read 80,632.3 cubic feet. I'm thinking the fastest-moving dial registers one foot when the pointer has revolved completely, not just moved one tick mark (the absence of digits on that dial seems to suggest it's just a decimal dial, like the big sweep hand on the other meter). So the figures written next to the other dials would NOT be multiplication factors, but rather indicators of the value of a complete rotation.
I've only managed to confuse myself. Can anyone confirm or deny this?
To submit your own meter readings to Con Ed in New York: Visit www.coned.com, click on "My Account." On the next screen, enter your account number and click "Submit a meter reading." Easy!