page_title: Electricity meter
section_title: Location
hierarchical_section_title: Electricity meter / Location
caption_attribution_description: English: A Duke Energy technician disconnecting electricity at a residence due to nonpayment in Durham, North Carolina.
context_page_description: An electricity meter, electric meter, electrical meter, or energy meter is a device that measures the amount of electric energy consumed by a residence, a business, or an electrically powered device.
  Electric utilities use electric meters installed at customers' premises for billing and monitoring purposes. They are typically calibrated in billing units, the most common one being the kilowatt hour. They are usually read once each billing period.
  When energy savings during certain periods are desired, some meters may measure demand, the maximum use of power in some interval. "Time of day" metering allows electric rates to be changed during a day, to record usage during peak high-cost periods and off-peak, lower-cost, periods. Also, in some areas meters have relays for demand response load shedding during peak load periods.
context_section_description: The location of an electricity meter varies with each installation. Possible locations include on a utility pole serving the property, in a street-side cabinet (meter box) or inside the premises adjacent to the consumer unit / distribution board. Electricity companies may prefer external locations as the meter can be read without gaining access to the premises but external meters may be more prone to vandalism.
  Current transformers permit the meter to be located remotely from the current-carrying conductors. This is common in large installations. For example, a substation serving a single large customer may have metering equipment installed in a cabinet, without bringing heavy cables into the cabinet.
caption: A Duke Energy technician removes the tamper-proof seal from an electricity meter at a residence in Durham, North Carolina
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