Meter reading help

Joined
15 Oct 2022
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Country
United Kingdom
Hi everyone

I’m having arguments with my electricity supplier at the moment

I submitted a reading of 40804 but they have recorded it as 49291

This is what I submitted, what do you believe the read to be?
 

Attachments

  • 00A0959F-AA9F-48DB-8E07-08FB9DA59DF9.jpeg
    00A0959F-AA9F-48DB-8E07-08FB9DA59DF9.jpeg
    297.8 KB · Views: 132
Sponsored Links
It's nothing like 49291 - have they estimated that?

I make it 50804.

The first pointer does look a bit inaccurate but if it were 4 then the next would be a really high number but it is definitely 0.

What was the reading last time?
 
Ok thanks. The last reading I took a year ago was 30119
 
Sponsored Links
As above, the 49291, may have been an estimate for the reading at the billing date?
How long has the 'argument' ensued? :)
20000kWh seems quite a lot - Offgen use a figure of 12000kWh energy usage, per household, per year, to generate the price cap, but that includes both gas and electricity - is your heating and hot water electric?
 
Looks like 40804 to me
Looking again, I can see that if the meter was read a 1000kWh earlier, the dial would well and truly be below 5....

...but it's also interesting to see an Electricity Trust of South Australia meter... :unsure:
 
Looks like 40804 to me
Eh? You know those dials advance continuously on gears, not jump in steps? Like a clock where the minute hand points to 6, the hour hand is half way between two other numbers.

How do you get the 10000 hand to point to "very nearly 5" when the 1000 hand points to "nearly 0" and call that 40000? Sure, the 10000 hand should be pointing to 10% past the 5 if the 1000 hand is pointing to 1, so it looks slightly wonky, but it's a gross underread to assert its pointing to the 4

If that were wound back 1000 kWh the 10000 hand would still be much nearer the 5 than the 4
 
Last edited:
Take the picture so the camera angle is straight onto the 10k dial rather than at a slant, and look again. I'd agree with their reading. Heck, if you remove all the other disks and just look at the 10k one you'd have to say 49291 was fair cop
 
We have had this discussion before for this type of meter.

I read 50804

The 10000 can be a 4 or 5, but because the 1000 is a 0 or a 1 it has to be 40, 41, 50 or 51. It is closest to 50.
Hence it is 5

The 1000 can be a 0 or a 1, but because the 100 is near the 8 it has to be 08 or 18, but it has to be less than 1, so it is a 0.

The 100 is near the 8 so it can be a 7 or an 8.
But because the 10 is just past the 0 it will be 70 or 80, so will be an 8 as a long way from 7

The 10 is half way between 0 and 1 and that is confirmed by the units dial being near the 5. So it could be 05 or 15, so it has to be a 0.

The units are half way round so is a 4 or 5, and I chose a 4 as you would round down.
 
Last edited:
51084
Read the dials from the right. If the pointer is not DIRECTLY over the number then you read the lower number. If it appears to be over the number, refer to the number on the left to see if it has passed zero. If it has passed zero then you read the higher number, if it hasn't then use the lower number.
 
Eh? You know those dials advance continuously on gears, not jump in steps? Like a clock where the minute hand points to 6, the hour hand is half way between two other numbers.

How do you get the 10000 hand to point to "very nearly 5" when the 1000 hand points to "nearly 0" and call that 40000? Sure, the 10000 hand should be pointing to 10% past the 5 if the 1000 hand is pointing to 1, so it looks slightly wonky, but it's a gross underread to assert its pointing to the 4
Yes & as the minute hand gets to 59 the hour hand is almost touching the next highest number.
All the dials revolve in opposite directions so as the kWh turns to 0 from approaching 5 so it can be read as 4 or 5 because it won't make much difference, the 10kWh is approaching 1 so you read it as 0, the 100kWh is on 8 & approaching 0, the 1000kWh is approaching 1 so you read it as 0 & the 10000kWh is approaching 5 not at 5 so you read it as 4. Each dial will move in smaller increments as the consumption measurement increases.
 
For any given dial X, a full turn of the dial to the right of X, represents the segment of X that the pointer is between. In that picture the thousands dial is about 8 tenths of the way towards 1, on the "from 0 to 1" segment. This is exactly the same 8 as the hundreds dial, where the pointer points towards 8. The two dials are in agreement: 8 hundreds is the same as 0.8 (eight tenths) of 1000.

By the time the hundreds dial has reached 9, the thousands dial will be 9 tenths towards 1.

By the time the hundreds dial has reached 0, the thousands dial will be pointing at 1

--

The ten thousands dial appears slightly wonky. It is is nearly pointing at 5, so the reading will be around 50,000, not around 40,000 which the op has submitted to the energy co. If the ten thousands dial was half way between the 4-to-5 segment then the reading would be about 45,000

The ten thousands dial looks like it is pointing to slightly less than 5, but the rest of the dials indicate about 800, so it should be pointing to slightly after the 5. The pointer thus seems a bit wonky but it should not be rounded down to 4 for an estimate of 40,000.

-

It's no different to a normal geared time clock. This clock reads half past nine, but you don't need the minute hand to even be present for this; the gearing means the hour hand has moved half way between 9 and 10 so even if this clock only had an hour hand you could say with confidence that the time was about half past nine

CEAED34D-A152-4312-B75A-AFE83C92CEA7.jpeg

This clock below is clearly defective; there is no way that a minute hands reading of 39 minutes would result in an hour hand reading just past the 4. The hour hands should be about 2/3rds the way towards 5, because 40 is 2/3rds the way towards 60:

A8287E0D-9715-4EE6-910B-00CD95943E5A.jpeg

If the minute hand were removed from this clock, you'd estimate the time to be about 12 minutes past 4, because the hour hand appears to be pointing to approximately one fifth the way along its segment
 
Last edited:

DIYnot Local

Staff member

If you need to find a tradesperson to get your job done, please try our local search below, or if you are doing it yourself you can find suppliers local to you.

Select the supplier or trade you require, enter your location to begin your search.


Are you a trade or supplier? You can create your listing free at DIYnot Local

 
Sponsored Links
Back
Top