Hydro-Québec - Electricity Consumption

Every time you use an electrical appliance, you're consuming power. Since there's a cost to consuming this power, meters record the exact amount of electricity that flows into a building. Hydro-Québec's power system stops at the electricity meter in your home.

How does Hydro-Québec calculate your electricity consumption?

We simply subtract your previous reading from your current reading.

The difference is multiplied by a figure that is indicated on the meter, usually 10 (MULT 10).

How do you take your meter reading?

180 meters, 30,000 steps ... 17 dogs. every day

Note the positions of the needles on each dial.

If the needle is between two numbers, take the smaller number. If it points between 9 and 0, take the 9.

Here's an example:

The reading for the current period is:		7,523
The reading for the previous period was:	–	7,309
The difference between the two is:	=	214
This difference, multiplied by 10, gives:		2 ,140

This customer will be billed for 2,140 kilowatthours.

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180 meters, 30,000 steps, 17 dogs … every day

Releveur de compteurs

Hydro-Québec has over 470 meter readers who go around on foot to get readings from most of the company’s 3,500,000-odd meters. Compared with the 10,000 steps most people average on a daily basis, meter readers average about 30,000. Over the standard two-month meter-reading period, the 470 meter readers cross paths with close to 330,000 dogs ... or more than 700 dogs per person every two months!