BC Hydro Electricity Meters
BC Hydro has recently completed the process of transitioning their 1.9 million customers to modern ‘smart meters,’ which wirelessly transmit energy usage data to BC Hydro. There is no longer any need to conduct in-person meter readings.
Your smart meter records the amount of electricity used since the time it was installed, as measured in kilowatt-hours. When viewing your digital smart meter, it may transition through numerous pieces of data. To see your energy usage, wait until “01” is displayed in the top-left corner. To calculate your monthly usage, simply take a reading once per month, and subtract the previous reading from the current reading. The difference equals the number of kilowatt-hours used between the two readings.
FortisBC Natural Gas Meters
FortisBC utilizes both digital and older clock-style meters to measure the amount of natural gas you use. Both digital and clock-style meters display the total amount of gas used since the time the meter was installed. Reading your meter is simply a matter of recording the amount displayed on the meter, and subtracting a previous reading to find the amount of natural gas used during that interval.
Reading a digital meter is much the same as reading the display on a gas pump. Please note that FortisBC uses models of digital gas meters that measure gas usage in either cubic metres, or in hundreds of cubic feet (CCF). Your meter will clearly indicate which of these two forms of measurement it uses.
If your meter has a clock-style display, view our guide on how to read an old-style clock meter.
FortisBC Electricity Meters
FortisBC has recently completed the process of transitioning its electricity customers over to ‘advanced meters,’ which wirelessly transmit usage data to FortisBC for billing purposes. Unless you have requested that your meter be set to ‘radio-off’ mode, there is no need for a meter reader to view your home in-person.
Fortis BC’s advanced meters display a variety of information, much of it irrelevant to typical consumers. To see the amount of electricity used since the meter was installed—the figure which is used to calculate your bill—wait until the left side of the digital display reads ‘401.’
