How do electric companies measure electric consumption?

Answer 1

Somewhere on the outside or in the basement of every building, there's a 'meter'

for every house and every apartment. It has a big glass shell over it, and inside

the shell you can see a spinning disk and a set of little clock faces with little hands

that point to little numbers.

The meter is keeping track of the electrical energyconsumption (in kilowatt hours)

of one house or one apartment. The more electrical power is being used right now,

the faster the disk is spinning. The little clock faces are adding it all up ... If you

look at them today and again tomorrow, you'll see that one or two of the little

hands have moved to different numbers, because of the electric consumption

during that period of time.

From time to time ... usually once a month in most places ... an employee of the

electric company will physically walk up to your meter, read the numbers on it,

and take the information back to the office, where your bill will be prepared.

Answer 2

Electric companies measure electric consumption using a unit called kilowatt-hours (kWh). This measures the amount of electricity used over time. The customer's electric meter records the amount of energy consumed, which is then billed accordingly.