NCEC, Inc - Meter Reading

Watts
The rate of electrical use at any moment is measured in watts. For example:
• A 50-watt light bulb uses 50 watts.

If a device lists amps instead of watts, then multiply the amps times the voltage to get the watts.
For example:                                2.5 amps   x   120 volts   =   300 watts

Watt-hours
To know how much energy you're using you have to consider how long you run your appliances.
When you run a 1-watt appliance for an hour, that's a watt-hour. It's abbreviated Wh. For example:
•        One 100-watt light bulb on for an hour is 100 watt-hours (100 Wh)
•        One 100-watt light bulb on for five hours is 500 Wh

Kilowatt-hours
•        1,000 watt-hours is a kilowatt-hour (kWh). For example:
•        One 100-watt light bulb on for an hour, is 0.1 kWh (100/1000)
•        One 100-watt light bulb on for ten hours is 1 kWh (1 bulbs x 100W x 10h= 1000Wh = 1 kWh)

To understand the difference between kilowatts and kilowatt-hours, kilowatts are the rate of power at
any instant. Kilowatt -hours are the amount of energy used. A light bulb doesn't use 60 watts in an
hour, it uses 60 watt-hours in an hour.

What is a kilowatt hour??

Reading meters is an important part of what we do at Navarro County Electric. The accuracy of meter
reads is critical to insure accurate billing each month. Historically electric utilities and their customers
have manually read meters, but developments in technology are causing changes in the way meters are
read today.

Navarro County Electric is taking advantage of technological
advances in meter reading to automate the reading process.
Using what is called a 'Turtle' meter reading device
(so named because the communication frequency in MHz is
low, or slow, compared to most current high frequency
equipment), we are able to remotely read our members'
meters with near 100% accuracy. This device allows us to
obtain readings without making a monthly trip to manually
read the meter, or eliminates the need for members to read
their own meter for calculating billing.

Another advantage of remotely read meters is detection of
power theft. Utilities utilizing remote reading technology
can more easily detect changes in usage patterns which
are indicative of energy diversion or theft. In fact, the 'Turtle'
devices in use by NCEC can detect and report each time
the meter is removed from the socket/meter base (the
meter loses voltage when it is removed from the socket).
This incidental benefit is good for all members, because
energy theft impacts our cost of service.

NCEC has a plan in place to automate all meters to be read
remotely. If your meter is still being read manually, we are
working toward replacing your current meter with a meter
containing some of the latest in meter reading technology.

Meter Reading Information