How to read your meter

Your gas meter is an instrument that records, carefully and accurately, the amount of gas that enters your home. The meter measures the gas flowing through it and then records this flow of gas in the numbers on its dials. For a free guide on how to accurately read your meter, call Columbia Gas of Virginia DirectLink at 1-800-543-8911. Or you can read and print these pages for future reference. Here's some information that you might also find useful.

	How much gas did you use?
	Take our meter reading test

Here's the general rule to follow: When a pointer is between numbers, always read the smaller number.

For example, the pointer on the left seems to have reached 4. To be sure, check the dial to the right. If the pointer here is zero or beyond, then the pointer of the previous dial is indeed registering the number in question. In this case, 4 is the correct reading for the left dial and 1 is the right dial reading.

Some helpful meter-reading tips:

• Note labeling of the meter dials. The pointer of each dial moves in the direction shown by the arrow on the dial.
• A complete cycle of each dial causes the pointer of the next dial to the left to advance from one number to the next. It's similar to your car's odometer.
• Most meters have extra dials, sometimes labeled "test dials". These dials are not used to determine your meter reading. Read only the dials that register 1,000 or more cubic feet of gas.
• Record the readings on the dials of your meter carefully, in the same order that the dials appear on your meter. Otherwise, your reading will be incorrect.
• If you have a remote meter index, reading your meter is easy because the actual reading appears on the face of the index.
• Remember, when the pointer is between two numbers, read the smaller number.

Take our meter reading test to see if you are ready to read your own gas meter.