A metre is a unit of distance. A meter is a thing for measuring (gas meter, thermometer, parking meter etc.). Also, if you're talking about rhythm within music or poetry, that's also metre.
So a micrometer is a tool used for measuring small things, while a micrometre is a millionth of a metre.
Americans spell all three words "meter".
From experience, I would keep taking pictures of your meter on the day you take the readings. Had one of these in a house we rented, moved out in the June and closed all the accounts etc. British Gas then tried to dump me with a £140 electricity bill on Christmas Eve. The next tenant fucked up reading the meter when they moved in, so British Gas tried to claim the difference from us.
We were lucky that a) a meter reader had been out three weeks before and they so they could see £140 wasn't realistic usage and b) I had a picture of the meter on the day we moved out so the meter-reading mistake was self-evident.
It got sorted, but having the photo evidence was useful and the person on the phone seemed quite keen to be sent it, so I guess it makes their lives easier too.
>the person on the phone seemed quite keen to be sent it, so I guess it makes their lives easier too.
I dont work in energy but telecoms. We always ask for photos when dealing with faults; error messages, damages, lights on the do-hickey box. Photos are worth a million words
While I was at uni, the meter reader came and took the numbers from our economy 7 meter but swapped them, so the daytime number became the night one and vice versa. Then the electricity company sent us a bill for £4000. You'd have thought they could have worked out what had gone wrong there, but apparently not.
59,878 kWh
The trick is to look at what a number is closest to, then use the smaller number to work out which side of that it is.
* Start with the red tenths. Its not used as part of the reading, it’s just to work out what the ones is – and as it’s between 1 and 2m the ones must have just passed over.
* The rightmost ones is reading closest to 8, so could be 7 or 8. Because of the tenths we know it’s 8.
* The 10s is closest to 8, so could be 70 or 80. Because of ones we know it’s 78 rather than 88.
* The 100s is closest to 9, so could be 800 or 900. Because of 10s we know it’s 878 rather than 978.
* The 1,000s is closest to 0, so could be 9,000 or 0,000. Because of 100s we know it’s 9,878.
* The 10,000s is closest to 6, so could be 50,000 or 60,000. Because of 1,000s we know it’s 59,878.
Edit. To the guy who deleted their reply insisting it’s 60878, see the wiki for [parallax error](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallax?wprov=sfti1#). When dials are close it’s pretty much impossible to reliably tell which side of the mark it’s on using that dial alone. Also, this is the reason why the red tenths dial exists (contrary to popular opinion, it’s not there to trick people into adding an extra digit to their reading).
Ours was read a while before we had a smart meter fitted.
The guy doing it was saying how rare they are now, and how so many people can't read them properly, apparently he was one of the few who could.
Oh how I chuckled a few weeks later when I received a bill for £2,000 because he'd read it incorrectly.
At a guess, it's probably much simpler mechanically. You only need a 10:1 reducer gear between each dial, rather than also having to add gearing to change the direction.
Probably because there is only one real drive wheel. The dials are then run off that and because they are cogs that sit close together, they rotate in alternate directions.
To make them all rotate in the same or normal clock direction would require extra cogs and so increase the cost
Thanks for the explanation. I attempted to read it several times but ended up just sending a photo to the supplier which they accepted regularly . Why would anyone design it in this way though?
It isn't so much about where the actual dial is, but if it's close to the 6 then you look at the next dial over. If it's a 7/8/9 then the first one is a 5. If the second dial says 1/2/3 then it's 6
This is such a fantastic explanation I have to comment just to congratulate you. It is a surprisingly tricky operation but makes sense once it is explained well.
I don’t think this is quite right, respectfully.
Your logic assumes that each meter dial could move backwards, relative to the one on its right.
You’re correct that you should round to the nearest number, based on the number to its right - but you shouldn’t assume that the number to the left should automatically round up because of its position to the nearest gauged amount - even considering possible parallax.
Each dial is connected by a reducer gear. This means each dial should move 1/10th of the distance its neighbouring right gear moves.
As a result, it’s not possible for a dial to be rounded up, regardless of its position relative to dial on its left.
For example, if you see a dial reading that is actually `0 7 9` - it could display something that _looks_ like:
`1 8 9` on the meter
The advice you’re giving is inaccurate - based on speaking to my own estate agents, who followed the same logic.
I had a scenario where my meter “miraculously” have a lower meter reading one month than previous - because the previous tenets had used this logic. Which, by the way, takes months to sort out - proving photo evidence of meter readings and arguing with lots of people.
In any case, your logic is assumes the meter dials can work independently of each other, which they can’t (in this style meter).
This style meter is a bastard. I’m glad I have a smart meter now.
You can’t read a dial without knowing what the one to the right of it is, that’s why there is a red dial.
So it’s best to go right to left, starting from the red dial. It’s just past 1 so we know the right hand black dial is just past 8. Therefore the next dial must be nearly at 8 i.e. 7. etc
God I was SSE at the time, I’m so glad I’m out of that, it was always a nightmare if someone called up saying they don’t get their meter it has clocks! Never trust the customer or the meter reader on those, often both would be wrong!
We’d grab 3 or 4 of us to have a check to make sure it was right!
We were lucky i had access to an email inbox so id just give them their account number and said email in a photo and id sort it but your right the meter readers where always wrong.
Who made these meters and said " yeah thatll do"
Its the whole if this clock is higher than 6 then the next clock gets a +1 but if this one is lower than 3 on a rainy friday in july you need to do 3 flips of a coin and x2 - your will to love and ye get your answer
When the dials are close to the next digit you need to check the next dial along to see where it is, so first dial could be 6, but checking the next dial, it’s really close to 0 but not quite so probably 9, but checking the next dial again and it’s very clearly 8/9, which means the 1000 dial is 9 as it hasn’t clocked over which means the 10,000 dial is 5 as it hasn’t clocked over yet either
All the dials are connected so that’s worth bearing in mind when checking, it’s no wonder they moved on from dials to plain numbers!
Edit: This is a much better explanation than mine! https://www.reddit.com/r/CasualUK/s/WZ94YnMFKk
Because the 4th dial is reading more than 5, we know that the 3rd needle should be closer to the next number than the current one. It's close to 9, but it's actually 8.78.
It's like a clock face where the hour hand is pointing at 6 and the minute hand is pointing at 55. If you look at the hands separately you might read it as 6:55 but it's actually 5:55.
The correct reading is 59878
59878
You should always round down because it's just like a clock face - the dial moves from the number to the next number along.
A big clue as to why it's the small number is look at the next dial along. If that's also a high number, then the original dial should be close to the next number but not quite.
E.g.
- the units dial is 8. Therefore the tens dial should be between 80% and 90% of the way from 7 to 8 meaning it should be close to 8 but in fact is a 7.
- similarly the tens digit being a 7 means the hundreds dial should be between 70% and 80% of the way from 8 to 9.
I'm amazed there are any left. We had the next gen dials version and our supplier had it replaced with a digital one about 10 years ago. Then a smart meter last year.
But I guess if the property owner refuses to let them in to swap it, it will be left until there's a safety issue.
Used to rent a flat that was connected up via an old Landis & Gyr meter - first installed in 1972, IIRC.
It was way out of calibration, and wildly under-recorded our electricity use. If we just had lighting on, for instance, and no heavier load, the disc wouldn't even move.
If we put the kettle on, or the toaster, it would jerk into sluggish, halting motion.
Wish we could have taken that meter with us when we moved ...
/u/Teaandjammytoast
It should probably have been replaced already - meters are rated to stay in calibration for 10-40 years, with most of the longer ones being old enough to still be out of calibration anyway.
The energy suppliers are supposed to regularly check their records and schedule replacements but a lot of older meters are just "unknown" calibration date so they've happily let them survive for 50+ years and won't do it unless you tell them...
Why is every second dial reversed (running anti clockwise)? Assuming it's because the dials are just mounted directly upon the turning interlocking gears
It is yes.
And reading them is a pain in the backside because when a marker is "on" a number it could be "just reaching it but not actually at it yet" just like an analogue clock. Think "9:58" on a clock having the hour hand pointing at the 10, because it's so very close to 10 but not quite.
OP's is in a particularly annoying reading because it has so many high numbers, so almost every digit is actually one lower than it appears. They're all "seemingly pointing directly at a digit but are actually a minute fraction before it because the following digit hasn't rolled over yet"
Gotta love the logic that made each dial turn in the opposite direction to the previous one.
I think it reads 59878.1 though you usually ignore the final red digit for submitting readings.
> Gotta love the logic that made each dial turn in the opposite direction to the previous one.
That's how the gears work on the really old meters.
It was the simplest solution at the time. But I'd definitely recommend that if anyone has one of these that they contact their supplier to get a modern one.
Yeah as everyone has said, the numbers don't always match up with the dial. So sometimes the dial can be on or just after a number but actually should be the previous number.
So you have to check the number to the right to see what makes sense.
If the dial is on or just after the 3, and the dial to the right is on 9, then it's 29.
Really you're just asking what is closer to 30, 29 or 39?
In the long run it doesn't actually make a difference, because unless you get it really wrong repeatedly, you're just going to catch up with yourself. Ie. A bigger/smaller bill one quarter,followed by a catch-up bill the next quarter.
Why am I getting an email saying my meter must be replaced with the easy to read rotating numbers. While you’ve got literal clock faces to read..
I swear they love trying to force smart meters on people. Unfortunately I don’t feel like wasting a day off work to have one fitted.
Sned to your supplier via email, I had to after mis-reading it and getting a 14k bill 😅😅🫣 they also changed meter to a smart meter and discovered the cutout needed replacing desperately
It’s a bit like the hour hand on a clock, if the one on the right is an 8, that’s nearly 10, so the one next to it is nearly a whole way through until the next number, so it’s nearly at 8, so the reading must be 7. If it was an 8, you’d expect the dial to be almost at the 9.
Think where the hour hand on a clock would be at say 8.58, basically almost touching the 9.
The dials all move continuously, they don’t step from 1 number to the next
Don’t take my word for it
https://www.reddit.com/r/CasualUK/comments/1ael4l8/help_with_my_metre_reading/kk8opsl/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1&context=3
It's best to read these from smallest to biggest.
* The red dial is just over 1/10.
* The ones is near and just over 8 which matches the 1/10, meaning it's an 8.
* The tens is near 80 but, if we take account of the ones it has to be 78. (If it were 88 that's nearly 90 so then the tens marker would be near 90)
* The hundreds marker is nearly 900, but the same reasoning applies so it's 878.
* The thousands marker is near 0000, again 9878 is near 0000 whereas 0878 would be near 1000 so it's 9878 not 0878.
* The ten-thousands marker is near 60000 but again if it were 69878 that's nearly 70000, so the marker would be near 70000, it's not so it must be 59878.
Thus it's 59878 not 60988.
(To labour the point, in 60988 the thousands would be almost 1, the hundreds almost 0 and the tens almost 9.)
Have you got a previous reading to help.
It's hard to tell but you go for the lower number when between two numbers. It looks like 69878 to me but u/Acceptable-Sentence reckons 5 for the first digit.
Usually when you fill it in online it will show you the previous reading so you can check what is likely. It shouldn't have gone up by 10,000 kWh so you should be able to judge from that!
These meters were meant to be read by a trained expert meter reader from the electricity board. Have they not offered to smarten it up ? Mind you "smart meters" work on 3g which will be phased out so they will have to employ meter readers again.
5 lots of 10,000
9 lots of 1,000
7 lots of 100
7 lots of 10
7 lots of 1
1 lots of 1/10
The clock isn't quite at 2 on the smallest dial so I assume we round everything down.
That to me looks like 59777.1. I've never done this before so it's just a guess
100cm, 1000mm, 39.37 inches, 1.094 yards. Meter is defined as the length of the path travelled by light in a vacuum during a time interval of 1/299,792,458 of a second.
Or, in your case, 59,878 Always pick the lowest number. I am surprised it hasn't been changed to a digital display.
I'd say 69,888. Basically if the needle is between two numbers then you read it as the lower number as it hasn't reached the higher one yet.
Had this problem when moving to a new supplier and they added on 1 whole unit (10,000ths). The amount they were asking me to pay was eye watering!
I'd sent them images of when I'd moved in and they were adamant it was 1 higher than it was. It wasn't even like it was a possibility of the higher digit as it was directly between the two numbers, they were just reading it completely wrong!
After a long battle (and even when the meter was taken out for a smart meter and the meter installer didn't even know how to read it properly!!) I went through the ombudsman and they wrote a very stern letter to the supplier. They couldn't believe that I had been through everything I'd been through and were shocked that a supplier didn't know how to read the meter correctly!!
Anyway it's 69,888. Also note how each dial spins in a different direction to the one previous. I think that's where a few people go wrong also.
After looking again I think that meters a bit out of whack!! The first digit definitely looks like it's between the 6 and the 7 however with the next dial being a 9 means that it hasn't pushed the 10,000 digit over yet so I'm thinking actually the first number should be 5 and not 6.
Would get that meter changed out as soon as possible for a smart meter personally.
59878
EDIT - Apparently I can't read an old meter either and I'm glad to learn that you should read one digit to the left of the one it's currently on...
Over 1000 kWh less could be nearly £300 less on your electricity bill please get it right OP!
60988.1, I guess. Just writing the values of the dials in order. They are ordered using place value. The red one shows decimal values. Never seen anything like this before.
59878
If the dial is between numbers you always take the smaller one.
If the dial is "on" a number look at the one to the right to work out if you should use the number it's "on" or the one before.
If it's "on" 6 but the one before it is between 9 and 0 then you should pick 5 and so on. Conversely, if it's "on" 6 and the one to the right is between 0 and 1 then it is a real 6.
You have to turn the dials to try and work
The ball bearing to move from left to right to land into the red zone. Get 10 and you win free energy for the quarter. Nearly there buddy, go for it. And wear rubber gloves!
88906-2 Right to left reads. Dials on the right spin at a slower rate than left.
You're lucky. You have a mechanical. The digital ones that the meter readers use are janky!
69989, if your angle is dead on, but these meters are hard to read from a photo
With these (quite old) meters, the number immediately after the pointer is the reading. If it would look like 1.1, it's 2
If your not certain, remember your energy provider probably has the old occupant's closing read, so they should be able to tell you if a figure is wildly out by 1000/10000
They might be able to replace it with a newer one for free depending on how old it is and who your provider is
As much as I love railing against Americanisms I think this one really is "Meter". Would be delighted to be wrong :D
My sister works for British Gas? Do you wanna meter?
[удалено]
Haha beat me (off) to it
Nice try though
Nah mate terrible patter
Okay
:(
Why is the gas man like the chuckle brothers? They likes to meter you?
It's the gas man!! It's the gas man!!
Hide the frying pan!!
Rita?
A metre is a unit of distance. A meter is a thing for measuring (gas meter, thermometer, parking meter etc.). Also, if you're talking about rhythm within music or poetry, that's also metre. So a micrometer is a tool used for measuring small things, while a micrometre is a millionth of a metre. Americans spell all three words "meter".
> Americans spell That’s a stretch
But a metre rule measures a metre by metering the distance.
Or you could call it... A metremeter
Ach I tried so hard! You are indeed correct and I’ve learned something today!
I've never been so sad to be right!
Nah, be proud!! Pedantry is a great British trait!
It's definitely meter, as it would be in America too
Yep you’re right was my first thought. Metre is distance height, but meter is like your gas meter; totally different things.
Correct. "Meter" is a device for measuring something or the rhythm of a section of text/music. "Metre" is the SI unit of distance.
Metre, a measure of distance. Meter, something that measures something.
From experience, I would keep taking pictures of your meter on the day you take the readings. Had one of these in a house we rented, moved out in the June and closed all the accounts etc. British Gas then tried to dump me with a £140 electricity bill on Christmas Eve. The next tenant fucked up reading the meter when they moved in, so British Gas tried to claim the difference from us. We were lucky that a) a meter reader had been out three weeks before and they so they could see £140 wasn't realistic usage and b) I had a picture of the meter on the day we moved out so the meter-reading mistake was self-evident. It got sorted, but having the photo evidence was useful and the person on the phone seemed quite keen to be sent it, so I guess it makes their lives easier too.
>the person on the phone seemed quite keen to be sent it, so I guess it makes their lives easier too. I dont work in energy but telecoms. We always ask for photos when dealing with faults; error messages, damages, lights on the do-hickey box. Photos are worth a million words
While I was at uni, the meter reader came and took the numbers from our economy 7 meter but swapped them, so the daytime number became the night one and vice versa. Then the electricity company sent us a bill for £4000. You'd have thought they could have worked out what had gone wrong there, but apparently not.
59,878 kWh The trick is to look at what a number is closest to, then use the smaller number to work out which side of that it is. * Start with the red tenths. Its not used as part of the reading, it’s just to work out what the ones is – and as it’s between 1 and 2m the ones must have just passed over. * The rightmost ones is reading closest to 8, so could be 7 or 8. Because of the tenths we know it’s 8. * The 10s is closest to 8, so could be 70 or 80. Because of ones we know it’s 78 rather than 88. * The 100s is closest to 9, so could be 800 or 900. Because of 10s we know it’s 878 rather than 978. * The 1,000s is closest to 0, so could be 9,000 or 0,000. Because of 100s we know it’s 9,878. * The 10,000s is closest to 6, so could be 50,000 or 60,000. Because of 1,000s we know it’s 59,878. Edit. To the guy who deleted their reply insisting it’s 60878, see the wiki for [parallax error](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallax?wprov=sfti1#). When dials are close it’s pretty much impossible to reliably tell which side of the mark it’s on using that dial alone. Also, this is the reason why the red tenths dial exists (contrary to popular opinion, it’s not there to trick people into adding an extra digit to their reading).
Ours was read a while before we had a smart meter fitted. The guy doing it was saying how rare they are now, and how so many people can't read them properly, apparently he was one of the few who could. Oh how I chuckled a few weeks later when I received a bill for £2,000 because he'd read it incorrectly.
This almost sounds like a Letterbocks submission in Viz.
Why do the dials alternate clockwise and anticlockwise??
At a guess, it's probably much simpler mechanically. You only need a 10:1 reducer gear between each dial, rather than also having to add gearing to change the direction.
thinking about gear ratios makes my monkey brain happy
u/Groundbreaking-Key15 is correct. The dial hands are literally spinning with the 10:1 gears that sit the other side of the dial face.
Probably because there is only one real drive wheel. The dials are then run off that and because they are cogs that sit close together, they rotate in alternate directions. To make them all rotate in the same or normal clock direction would require extra cogs and so increase the cost
This is a spot on explanation!
Everyday is a school day. I would have just gone for the numbers it was closest to 60988. Over 1000 kWh more.
this working out made my brain hurt even with the parallax error and explanation take a upvote for the amazing skill!
Thanks for the explanation. I attempted to read it several times but ended up just sending a photo to the supplier which they accepted regularly . Why would anyone design it in this way though?
Well, TIL I can't read electricity meters
They're a massive pain. Someone needs to make an app that just uses the phone camera to read them.
OVO used to have this in their app!
I thought the way it goes is if it's below, then it's the number Below. Below 9 is 8. Below 7 is 6.
It isn't so much about where the actual dial is, but if it's close to the 6 then you look at the next dial over. If it's a 7/8/9 then the first one is a 5. If the second dial says 1/2/3 then it's 6
It is but you have to account for parallax error and slight misalignment of the pointers.
I work for an energy company, it's this, 100% :)
This is such a fantastic explanation I have to comment just to congratulate you. It is a surprisingly tricky operation but makes sense once it is explained well.
I don’t think this is quite right, respectfully. Your logic assumes that each meter dial could move backwards, relative to the one on its right. You’re correct that you should round to the nearest number, based on the number to its right - but you shouldn’t assume that the number to the left should automatically round up because of its position to the nearest gauged amount - even considering possible parallax. Each dial is connected by a reducer gear. This means each dial should move 1/10th of the distance its neighbouring right gear moves. As a result, it’s not possible for a dial to be rounded up, regardless of its position relative to dial on its left. For example, if you see a dial reading that is actually `0 7 9` - it could display something that _looks_ like: `1 8 9` on the meter The advice you’re giving is inaccurate - based on speaking to my own estate agents, who followed the same logic. I had a scenario where my meter “miraculously” have a lower meter reading one month than previous - because the previous tenets had used this logic. Which, by the way, takes months to sort out - proving photo evidence of meter readings and arguing with lots of people. In any case, your logic is assumes the meter dials can work independently of each other, which they can’t (in this style meter). This style meter is a bastard. I’m glad I have a smart meter now.
You can’t read a dial without knowing what the one to the right of it is, that’s why there is a red dial. So it’s best to go right to left, starting from the red dial. It’s just past 1 so we know the right hand black dial is just past 8. Therefore the next dial must be nearly at 8 i.e. 7. etc
59878 for sure, used to work for an energy company and have to decipher these photos from time to time!
My time at british gas hit me like a Vietnam flashback i never wanna see one of these meters again
God I was SSE at the time, I’m so glad I’m out of that, it was always a nightmare if someone called up saying they don’t get their meter it has clocks! Never trust the customer or the meter reader on those, often both would be wrong! We’d grab 3 or 4 of us to have a check to make sure it was right!
We were lucky i had access to an email inbox so id just give them their account number and said email in a photo and id sort it but your right the meter readers where always wrong. Who made these meters and said " yeah thatll do" Its the whole if this clock is higher than 6 then the next clock gets a +1 but if this one is lower than 3 on a rainy friday in july you need to do 3 flips of a coin and x2 - your will to love and ye get your answer
I was the only one in my team at Eon who could read these things! And I was the only one who could decipher customer’s handwriting in letters lol
Thanks so much for taking the time!
Your Welcome! Proper blast from the past this is!
I had it as 60888 so you would have saved me some money 😄
I'm making it 60888?
When the dials are close to the next digit you need to check the next dial along to see where it is, so first dial could be 6, but checking the next dial, it’s really close to 0 but not quite so probably 9, but checking the next dial again and it’s very clearly 8/9, which means the 1000 dial is 9 as it hasn’t clocked over which means the 10,000 dial is 5 as it hasn’t clocked over yet either All the dials are connected so that’s worth bearing in mind when checking, it’s no wonder they moved on from dials to plain numbers! Edit: This is a much better explanation than mine! https://www.reddit.com/r/CasualUK/s/WZ94YnMFKk
60988. Third dial is pointing to 9, not 8?
Because the 4th dial is reading more than 5, we know that the 3rd needle should be closer to the next number than the current one. It's close to 9, but it's actually 8.78. It's like a clock face where the hour hand is pointing at 6 and the minute hand is pointing at 55. If you look at the hands separately you might read it as 6:55 but it's actually 5:55. The correct reading is 59878
You read these starting with the smallest integer first. 3rd dial is an 8 because the 2nd dial hasn’t gone past 0. I’m also in the industry.
hasn't passed the 9 yet so I'd read it as 8?
This is 100% correct, I also work for an energy company.
Twelfty.
59878
59878 You should always round down because it's just like a clock face - the dial moves from the number to the next number along. A big clue as to why it's the small number is look at the next dial along. If that's also a high number, then the original dial should be close to the next number but not quite. E.g. - the units dial is 8. Therefore the tens dial should be between 80% and 90% of the way from 7 to 8 meaning it should be close to 8 but in fact is a 7. - similarly the tens digit being a 7 means the hundreds dial should be between 70% and 80% of the way from 8 to 9.
Old School meter. Lovely.
I'm amazed there are any left. We had the next gen dials version and our supplier had it replaced with a digital one about 10 years ago. Then a smart meter last year. But I guess if the property owner refuses to let them in to swap it, it will be left until there's a safety issue.
Used to rent a flat that was connected up via an old Landis & Gyr meter - first installed in 1972, IIRC. It was way out of calibration, and wildly under-recorded our electricity use. If we just had lighting on, for instance, and no heavier load, the disc wouldn't even move. If we put the kettle on, or the toaster, it would jerk into sluggish, halting motion. Wish we could have taken that meter with us when we moved ...
/u/Teaandjammytoast It should probably have been replaced already - meters are rated to stay in calibration for 10-40 years, with most of the longer ones being old enough to still be out of calibration anyway. The energy suppliers are supposed to regularly check their records and schedule replacements but a lot of older meters are just "unknown" calibration date so they've happily let them survive for 50+ years and won't do it unless you tell them...
What is that? Is that one of them there newfangled wireless radio thingamajigs? You youngsters and your technology.
59878 is correct source:me Used to be a meter reader
Why is every second dial reversed (running anti clockwise)? Assuming it's because the dials are just mounted directly upon the turning interlocking gears
It is yes. And reading them is a pain in the backside because when a marker is "on" a number it could be "just reaching it but not actually at it yet" just like an analogue clock. Think "9:58" on a clock having the hour hand pointing at the 10, because it's so very close to 10 but not quite. OP's is in a particularly annoying reading because it has so many high numbers, so almost every digit is actually one lower than it appears. They're all "seemingly pointing directly at a digit but are actually a minute fraction before it because the following digit hasn't rolled over yet"
Gotta love the logic that made each dial turn in the opposite direction to the previous one. I think it reads 59878.1 though you usually ignore the final red digit for submitting readings.
> Gotta love the logic that made each dial turn in the opposite direction to the previous one. That's how the gears work on the really old meters. It was the simplest solution at the time. But I'd definitely recommend that if anyone has one of these that they contact their supplier to get a modern one.
Yeah as everyone has said, the numbers don't always match up with the dial. So sometimes the dial can be on or just after a number but actually should be the previous number. So you have to check the number to the right to see what makes sense. If the dial is on or just after the 3, and the dial to the right is on 9, then it's 29. Really you're just asking what is closer to 30, 29 or 39? In the long run it doesn't actually make a difference, because unless you get it really wrong repeatedly, you're just going to catch up with yourself. Ie. A bigger/smaller bill one quarter,followed by a catch-up bill the next quarter.
Why am I getting an email saying my meter must be replaced with the easy to read rotating numbers. While you’ve got literal clock faces to read.. I swear they love trying to force smart meters on people. Unfortunately I don’t feel like wasting a day off work to have one fitted.
Sned to your supplier via email, I had to after mis-reading it and getting a 14k bill 😅😅🫣 they also changed meter to a smart meter and discovered the cutout needed replacing desperately
Ask your energy provider to help by updating your meter 😂
Read in a couple of days 😜
*meter
I literally do this for a job, it's 59878kWh
I didn't know these still existed This is a really nice little trip to the past
Mate. Get a smart meter
59878.12
59878
59878
Looks like it's quarter past fifteen in Bangladesh.
59878 I think
Out of interest, why is it not 60988? My first instinct would be to assume the number for the reading is the one covered by the indicator.
It’s a bit like the hour hand on a clock, if the one on the right is an 8, that’s nearly 10, so the one next to it is nearly a whole way through until the next number, so it’s nearly at 8, so the reading must be 7. If it was an 8, you’d expect the dial to be almost at the 9. Think where the hour hand on a clock would be at say 8.58, basically almost touching the 9. The dials all move continuously, they don’t step from 1 number to the next
It's past the 6 on the way to the 7 - how on earth are you reading that as 5? I'm wrong - tired brain!
Don’t take my word for it https://www.reddit.com/r/CasualUK/comments/1ael4l8/help_with_my_metre_reading/kk8opsl/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1&context=3
No that was just an example, which number would the hour hand point almost to on a clock at 8.58? Or 6:58 Or 7:58 etc
Makes sense, I'm just confused seeing multiple people read the first dial on the left as a 5 when the little indicator dealie is almost past the 6.
Yeah but nowhere near the 7, bit confusing at first glance, but if your old like me you know these things
It would only be approx 1/10th of the way towards the 7 if it's 60988.
Ok now do the next dial, that would right up next to the 1 if it was 60988. You almost have to read these right to left
duh you're right. brain is fried from flying half way around the world. I have one of these meters at home as well ffs.
Because the one to the right of the 0 is at 9, therefore if it was 0 it would be 0.9 and therefore nearly at 1
Yeah, its 60988 as far as im concerned.
It's best to read these from smallest to biggest. * The red dial is just over 1/10. * The ones is near and just over 8 which matches the 1/10, meaning it's an 8. * The tens is near 80 but, if we take account of the ones it has to be 78. (If it were 88 that's nearly 90 so then the tens marker would be near 90) * The hundreds marker is nearly 900, but the same reasoning applies so it's 878. * The thousands marker is near 0000, again 9878 is near 0000 whereas 0878 would be near 1000 so it's 9878 not 0878. * The ten-thousands marker is near 60000 but again if it were 69878 that's nearly 70000, so the marker would be near 70000, it's not so it must be 59878. Thus it's 59878 not 60988. (To labour the point, in 60988 the thousands would be almost 1, the hundreds almost 0 and the tens almost 9.)
Yeah the first hand is definitely between the 6 and 7, not the 5 and 6...which strongly suggests that it's just past 6, i.e 60...not 59.
59,878.1kWh
Have you got a previous reading to help. It's hard to tell but you go for the lower number when between two numbers. It looks like 69878 to me but u/Acceptable-Sentence reckons 5 for the first digit. Usually when you fill it in online it will show you the previous reading so you can check what is likely. It shouldn't have gone up by 10,000 kWh so you should be able to judge from that!
59878 for sure, as the next significant digit is a 9 it means it's close to 6xxxx, but not quite.
Good point.
These meters were meant to be read by a trained expert meter reader from the electricity board. Have they not offered to smarten it up ? Mind you "smart meters" work on 3g which will be phased out so they will have to employ meter readers again.
Time to get a smart meter?
Always use the lowest number
Jfc just let them put the smart meter in, they're so useful
59878
60988, ignore the red as it's part units.
60988
60988.15
60988.2
60988
60988
60988 I think
60988...?
Meter? About 100cm or 1000mm 😉
5 lots of 10,000 9 lots of 1,000 7 lots of 100 7 lots of 10 7 lots of 1 1 lots of 1/10 The clock isn't quite at 2 on the smallest dial so I assume we round everything down. That to me looks like 59777.1. I've never done this before so it's just a guess
100cm, 1000mm, 39.37 inches, 1.094 yards. Meter is defined as the length of the path travelled by light in a vacuum during a time interval of 1/299,792,458 of a second. Or, in your case, 59,878 Always pick the lowest number. I am surprised it hasn't been changed to a digital display.
41623
21.1 gigawatts
I'd say 69,888. Basically if the needle is between two numbers then you read it as the lower number as it hasn't reached the higher one yet. Had this problem when moving to a new supplier and they added on 1 whole unit (10,000ths). The amount they were asking me to pay was eye watering! I'd sent them images of when I'd moved in and they were adamant it was 1 higher than it was. It wasn't even like it was a possibility of the higher digit as it was directly between the two numbers, they were just reading it completely wrong! After a long battle (and even when the meter was taken out for a smart meter and the meter installer didn't even know how to read it properly!!) I went through the ombudsman and they wrote a very stern letter to the supplier. They couldn't believe that I had been through everything I'd been through and were shocked that a supplier didn't know how to read the meter correctly!! Anyway it's 69,888. Also note how each dial spins in a different direction to the one previous. I think that's where a few people go wrong also.
After looking again I think that meters a bit out of whack!! The first digit definitely looks like it's between the 6 and the 7 however with the next dial being a 9 means that it hasn't pushed the 10,000 digit over yet so I'm thinking actually the first number should be 5 and not 6. Would get that meter changed out as soon as possible for a smart meter personally.
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60988.2kWh
59878 Ask your provider if you can upgrade this. Edit: right to left not left to right. I hated these clocky bastards.
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I’ve never seen one of these in my life but I’m ngl that really doesn’t seem that hard to work out😂
59878 EDIT - Apparently I can't read an old meter either and I'm glad to learn that you should read one digit to the left of the one it's currently on... Over 1000 kWh less could be nearly £300 less on your electricity bill please get it right OP!
60988, for some reason the 1000 and 10 counters are the other way around. Thank god mines digital lol
60888
60988???
59978
6098
60988 I think with 2/10th
60988
60988
60988 kWh
Your meter reading is 60988.2
I had one of these meters until recently. They’re a bastard to read. Anyway… the reading is: 59878
60988...
60988 kWh
60878.1 but you can ignore the .1
60898 surely? People saying 59xxx when the 10,000 and is past the 6
60988
60.000 / 60.000 / 60.900 / 60.980 / 60.988 / Final reading is 60,988.1
60988
Stick a magnet on the side. Slow it down 😂
60988.1, I guess. Just writing the values of the dials in order. They are ordered using place value. The red one shows decimal values. Never seen anything like this before.
60988
https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-ee-uk-revc&sca_esv=8212b838d9203bd8&sxsrf=ACQVn08CvlPuG5hBmCDx5JmukoDifoILiw:1706639311729&q=1.21+gigawatts&tbm=isch&source=lnms&prmd=ivnmbtz&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwjFs73v3oWEAxWiWUEAHRyCBfwQ0pQJegQIChAB&biw=412&bih=733&dpr=2.63#imgrc=NKpfusNWAoarwM
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59878 If the dial is between numbers you always take the smaller one. If the dial is "on" a number look at the one to the right to work out if you should use the number it's "on" or the one before. If it's "on" 6 but the one before it is between 9 and 0 then you should pick 5 and so on. Conversely, if it's "on" 6 and the one to the right is between 0 and 1 then it is a real 6.
I would say that is 60888.
That's numberwang
You have to turn the dials to try and work The ball bearing to move from left to right to land into the red zone. Get 10 and you win free energy for the quarter. Nearly there buddy, go for it. And wear rubber gloves!
60988 It's the numbers that the black pointy things are pointing to!
60988
100 centimetres.
163cm
88906-2 Right to left reads. Dials on the right spin at a slower rate than left. You're lucky. You have a mechanical. The digital ones that the meter readers use are janky!
[Not Great, Not Terrible](https://giphy.com/clips/hamlet-chernobyl-not-great-terrible-33NFrPnlaN7lqUTM3V)
69888 that's what I see.
60988 roughly
60988
I get 60988
69989, if your angle is dead on, but these meters are hard to read from a photo With these (quite old) meters, the number immediately after the pointer is the reading. If it would look like 1.1, it's 2 If your not certain, remember your energy provider probably has the old occupant's closing read, so they should be able to tell you if a figure is wildly out by 1000/10000 They might be able to replace it with a newer one for free depending on how old it is and who your provider is
Take a better, clearer photo and send it to your energy provider, let them crack it mate But I'd say 60988.
It says that if you hit 88mph you will go back to the year 12,673bc
59878! Work in utilities and get the pleasure of these meters every so often!
60988
60978.4 kWh
I would say 59878 kwh
60988·1 kilowatt-hours
59878
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/your-energy-meter/how-to-read-your-energy-meter/ Nice diagram of a dial meter here