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Electricity dial meter

You may have an older meter which features several mechanical dials. If you have one of these meters, the readout will look something like the diagram below:

Diagram explaining how to read a dial electricity meter, with an example reading of 54913 kWh.

Accessible caption

Guide showing how to read a dial electricity meter. Read the dials from left to right, record the lower number when a pointer falls between two numbers, check the next dial if a pointer is exactly on a number, and subtract one if the next dial is on 9. Using these rules, the example meter reading is 54913 kWh.

How to read a dial meter

  • Read the number from left to right.

  • Include all numbers from the left to the right, including zeros. 

  • Exclude any numbers after the decimal point, or any red dials.

  • Adjacent dials turn in opposite directions.

  • The number and position of dials may vary.

  • If the pointer is between two figures, always read the lowest of the 2 numbers (so if the pointer is between 5 and 6, the number you read is 5).

  • If the pointer is directly on a number, for example 7, look at the next dial to the right. If that dial on the right is between 9 and 0, you read 6 for the initial dial. If the dial on the right is between 0 and 1, you read 7 for the initial dial.

  • Always provide any zeroes to the left of the decimal point part of your reading.

How to send your readings to us

By email – to SEUKL-Shell-Energy-Meter-Reads@shell.com

Any issues? Contact our team.