{"id":290,"date":"2020-07-06T20:39:50","date_gmt":"2020-07-07T03:39:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pe.local\/how-to-measure-power-consumption\/"},"modified":"2025-03-18T10:16:15","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T17:16:15","slug":"how-to-measure-power-consumption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prairielectric.com\/electrical-service\/how-to-measure-power-consumption\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Measure Power Consumption"},"content":{"rendered":"

Longtime readers of the Prairie Electric Blog<\/a> will no doubt find themselves circling around the headline of this piece and asking themselves the following questions. \u201cHow to measure power consumption? Haven\u2019t we already covered that topic?\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, yes and no. We\u2019ve certainly been hard at work building robust pages of content for our readers. Many of our blog topics do go over similar ground, reexamining, and often updating content as necessary.<\/p>\n

So while we\u2019ve never written specifically about <\/i>how to measure power consumption, we\u2019ve definitely written near <\/i>it! We suggest you look back over a few of these blogs to give yourself a refresher course before we dive into the current topic.<\/p>\n

For example, \u201cHow to Read an Electric Meter and Calculate Energy Usage<\/a>\u201d is a good place to start. You\u2019ll find additional information regarding this overall topic in the blogs \u201cHow Much Electrical Power Do I Need For My Home<\/a>\u201d and \u201cTroubleshooting A High Electric Bill.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

And now that we\u2019re done with that fun and informative recap, dear reader, let\u2019s move on to the topic at hand: How to measure power consumption.<\/p>\n

Measuring Power Consumption<\/b><\/h3>\n

Measuring power consumption takes just two things:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. the ability to read and compare figures from an electrical meter<\/li>\n
  2. the ability to perform simple arithmetic<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Let\u2019s tackle these one at a time, with the help of \u2026 ourselves!<\/p>\n

    Reading A Power Meter<\/b><\/h4>\n

    In the piece linked above in which we describe how electric meters work<\/a>, we write: \u201cThere are several different types of meter. Chances are you have the type of electric meter with the spinny dial inside. This is an electromechanical watt-hour meter.<\/p>\n

    \u201cBut even if it\u2019s digital, the method of tabulating the electrical charges are the same. The way your electric company measures your electricity usage and bills you for it is quite ingenious in its simplicity.<\/p>\n

    \u201cA current passes through your meter (either mechanical analog \u2014 i.e., spinny dial \u2014 or digital) at your home\u2019s service entrance. The service entrance is where the electrical wires connect from the power lines (or underground) to your home.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Similarly, in the piece we wrote about reading an electric meter,<\/a> we describe the process thusly: \u201cTo read an analog electric meter, go left to right. Determine where the arrow points.<\/p>\n

    \u201cIf it\u2019s between two numbers, the number to jot down is the lower number of the two. If an arrow points directly at a number, glance at the dial to the right. If it\u2019s past zero, then the dial to the left should be read as the number the arrow is pointing at. If the dial to the right is not past zero, then the dial to its left should be read as the previous number.<\/p>\n

    \u201cFor the last number in the row, you\u2019ll need to find out how your local electric company determines that number. Then keep that in mind each time you read your meter.<\/p>\n

    \u201cDigital meters (or smart meters) are even easier to read. They display the number itself. So you just have to make note of it and perform the calculation below.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Calculating Home Energy Consumption<\/b><\/h3>\n

    So once you have that number \u2014 i.e., your current month\u2019s electric meter reading \u2014 all you need to do to measure power consumption is some basic arithmetic.<\/p>\n

    For the sake of simplicity, let\u2019s lay it out like so:<\/p>\n

    This month\u2019s reading: 10000<\/p>\n

    Minus last month\u2019s reading: 9000<\/p>\n

    This month (10000) minus last month (9000) equals 1,000 kilowatt hours (kWh).<\/p>\n

    That\u2019s how we measure power consumption or total energy consumers while performing a little electricity monitoring practice. It\u2019s important to do some energy monitoring at home from time to time. Your appliances and smart technology are always drawing power in real time, so keeping tabs is a good way to be more energy efficient \u2014 i.e., become your own usage monitor!<\/p>\n

    One final note: Most electric companies take readings monthly, give or take a day or two. (It also has to do with billing cycles.) To be certain, we suggest contacting your power company and asking them how many days on average is your billing cycle. Your billing statement will give you these numbers as well.<\/p>\n

    Now that you know how to measure power consumption, you can look at those old blogs with a fresh eye! Learn how to troubleshoot a high electric bill<\/a>. And figure out a way to determine how much power you need!<\/a><\/p>\n

    Prairie Electric<\/b><\/h2>\n

    In the meantime, contact Prairie Electric for all your electrical service needs. We\u2019re proud to be an award-winning electrical service company, working on residential, commercial, transportation, and utility projects.<\/p>\n

    We\u2019re thrilled to have been named 2018 Subcontractor of the Year by The Daily Journal of Commerce.<\/p>\n

    We\u2019ve worked in this community for many years, and we look forward to serving our neighbors and fellow businesses for many years to come.<\/p>\n

    So give us a call today!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Master the art of measuring power consumption for energy-efficient living.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":291,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":7,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-electrical-service"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prairielectric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prairielectric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prairielectric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prairielectric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prairielectric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.prairielectric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prairielectric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prairielectric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prairielectric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prairielectric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}