Commercial Meters

Demand customers have one of two types of meters. One type is the thermal demand meter and the other is a digital meter.

Demand meters respond to changes in the electrical load. It averages the load over a 15-minute time period.

The thermal demand meter has two pointers. The red pointer indicates the present kilowatt, or KW demand, and the black pointer indicates the maximum KW demand. Digital demand meters have a display that alternates between the peak KW demand, the energy consumed, and a test screen.

Each month, the meter reader records the meter readings and resets the indicators back to zero. This allows a new peak demand to be registered for the next billing period. Some meter readings must be multiplied by a number to determine the actual demand value. This multiplier is an embossed number attached to the face of the meter.