How to Read Your Texas Electricity Meter
The Texas Electricity Smart Meter Display
Smart meters display six different sets of information (or registers) at three-second intervals, 24 hours a day. Here are the different types of information you will see. The register ID in the top left corner indicates what type of information is being shown.
Residential and Small Commercial Energy Usage
What does "01H" mean
- Look for the 01H register ID at the top left of the display
- The 01H reading no the left hand of your meter indicates electric usage in kilowatt hours (kWh)
- Read the digits from left to right
- Shows a current reading of electricity used
- To see how much electricity you've used in, for example, one week, write down this number at the beginning of the week then subtract it from the number displayed at the end of the week
How to Read Your Commercial kVa demand Meters
What does "03A" mean
- Look for the 03A register ID at the top left of the display
- The 03A reading on the left hand side of your Texas smart meter indicates electric demand in kilovolt amperes (kVa)
- Read the digits from left to right
- Shows maximum demand; utilized for commercial customers over 10 kVa
How to Read Your Solar Buy Back Meter
What does "029" mean
- Look for the 029 register ID at the top left of the display
- 029 on the left hand side of your meter indicates surplus electricity generated by customers with registered distributed generation sources such as wind turbines or solar panels in kilowatt hours (kWh)
- Read the digits from left to right
- CenterPoint Energy sends the amount of electricity consumed and generated to Retail Electric Providers, who may compensate customers for surplus generation.
Segment Check
What does "888" mean
- Look for the 888 symbol at the top left of the screen
- 888 indicates whether the display has any burned out digits (or segments)
- The display should read 888 888
- Any other reading with the 888 symbol at the top left of the screen could indicate a faulty display
Meter Registered /Not Registered
What does "reg/not reg" mean
- Reg / Not Reg Indicates whether the meter is registered with CenterPoint Energy's communications network
- Look for the rE9 (REG) symbol in the middle of the screen
- rE9 indicates that the meter is registered with the communications network
- not rE9 indicates that the meter is not registered with the communications network
- Digital meters outside the communications network will not be “smart” until construction of the network reaches their area
Meter Synced /Not Synced
What does "Sync/not sync" mean
- The SYnc symbol indicates whether the meter is synchronized with CenterPoint Energy's communications network
- Look for the SYnc symbol in the middle of the screen
- SYnc indicates that the meter is synchronized (or communicating)with the network
- not SYncindicates that the meter is not synchronized (communicating) with the network
- CenterPoint Energy will be alerted when meters are not communicating