How to read your electric meter, and what changes at the meter when solar goes in
Your bill starts at the meter. It counts the electricity the house uses in kilowatt-hours, somebody reads it once a month, and last month’s reading is subtracted from this month’s. You can do the same subtraction yourself in under a minute.
Doing it every day for a week or two tells you more than any bill does, because it shows when the house uses power and not just how much. That daily figure is what we start from in an energy audit of your home or business, and it is the number any honest solar size is built on.
Reading an electronic meter
An electronic meter has a digital display. The number on it is your current reading. Subtract the previous reading and the difference is what you used.
Reading a dial meter
Older electromechanical meters have four or five small dials. Read them left to right, and for each dial write down the smaller of the two numbers the pointer sits between, the one it has just passed. The dials sit side by side but they do not all turn the same way:
- On a four-dial meter, dials A and C turn counter-clockwise and B and D clockwise.
- On a five-dial meter, dials A, C and E turn clockwise and B and D counter-clockwise.
Read one dial in the wrong direction and the reading can be out by hundreds of kilowatt-hours.
The subtraction, with Meralco’s two worked examples
| Meter | Current reading | Previous reading | kWh used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electronic meter | 3,456 | 3,144 | 312 |
| Dial meter | 4,987 | 4,756 | 231 |
Check the meter number, then find the readings on your bill
Before you read anything, compare the meter number printed on the meter with the one on your bill. In a compound or a row of apartments the meter in front of you may belong to the neighbour.
On a Meralco bill the reading details sit at the upper left, under “Your Electric Bill”, in five parts:
- Meter reading schedule
- The day this month’s reading was taken, and the day next month’s is due.
- Electric meter number
- The same number that is on the meter itself.
- Current reading
- What the meter showed on the scheduled reading day.
- Previous reading
- Last month’s reading.
- Actual consumption
- The difference between the two, in kWh. The energy charges on the bill are worked out from this figure.
Much of Pampanga is billed by an electric cooperative or a private utility other than Meralco, and their bills are laid out differently. The meter in front of you is read the same way. What the bill then does with your kilowatt-hours is set out in how a Philippine electric bill is put together, and the line people ask about most is explained in what system loss on a Meralco bill is.
Read it every day for a week
Take a reading at the same time each evening and write it down. Each day’s figure less the day before is that day’s use. A week of them shows the shape a monthly bill hides: whether the weekend runs higher, how much the house uses with nobody home, and how much the air conditioner adds on a hot night.
Two more readings, one first thing in the morning and one at sunset, split the day into the hours solar can cover and the hours it cannot. If most of your use falls after dark, a system with no battery and no net metering will cut less of the bill than its size suggests.
After solar: the meter that counts both ways
Most homes have a uni-directional meter. It only measures power coming in from the grid. A house with solar sometimes pushes power the other way, on a bright afternoon with nobody home, and an ordinary meter has no way to record that as a credit.
A bi-directional meter measures both directions: the energy you import and the energy you export. Under net metering it is what lets the exported power be recorded and credited. Meralco replaces a meter that has no import and export reading with a bi-directional one when a customer enrols.
The warning worth knowing before anything goes on the roof: Meralco says that without net metering and a bi-directional meter, the surplus your panels produce may be recorded as energy you imported, which raises your bill.
If you never intend to export, Meralco offers zero export instead of net metering, and it still asks to be told about the installation. Under the 2025 amended net metering rules a separate REC meter, which counts what your panels generate, is optional.
What people ask about reading a meter
How do I read a digital electric meter?
Read the number on the display. That is the current reading. Subtract last month’s reading, which is printed on your bill, and the difference is the kilowatt-hours you used.
Meralco’s own example: a current reading of 3,456 less a previous reading of 3,144 is 312 kWh.
How do I read an electric meter with dials?
Read the dials from left to right and, for each one, write down the smaller of the two numbers the pointer sits between, the number it has just passed. Neighbouring dials turn in opposite directions, so check which way each one runs before you read it.
On a four-dial meter Meralco says dials A and C turn counter-clockwise and B and D clockwise. On a five-dial meter A, C and E turn clockwise and B and D counter-clockwise.
What is a bi-directional meter?
A meter that records electricity in both directions: what you import from the grid and what your panels export to it. It is the meter a net metered house needs, because it is what lets exported power be recorded and credited.
Meralco warns that without net metering and a bi-directional meter, the surplus your panels push out may be recorded as power you imported, which raises your bill instead of lowering it.
Why does my reading not match my bill?
First check the meter number. Meralco asks you to compare the number on the meter with the one on your bill before reading anything, because the meter you are looking at may not be yours. Then check the date: the bill uses the reading taken on the scheduled reading day, and yours was taken on another.
Bring a week of readings and we will read them with you
A week of daily readings and a recent bill is enough for us to tell you where the power goes and how much of it solar could carry. That is our energy audit and consultation, and it comes before any quotation.
Send us your readings
Your town, your utility and a week of meter readings is enough to start. You will get a written answer on where the power goes and what size, if any, makes sense.
Tell us the property and what you are trying to cut, and you will get a written answer with a size and a next step. No visit is booked and nothing is charged for asking.
Sources: Meralco, “About your Meter”, and Meralco, “Net Metering” frequently asked questions, both read on meralco.com.ph on 1 October 2026. The bill layout described is Meralco’s; check your own utility’s bill for where it prints the same figures.