How to Read Your Natural Gas Meter

Reading a gas meter isn’t what you’d call easy, so we’ve broken it down into basic steps to help you make sense of it all.

There are two types of meters—a rolling digit meter and a dial meter.

Reading a digital meter is a no-brainer because you read it from left to right just like you’d read the odometer on a car.

Reading a dial gas meter, on the other hand, can be more challenging since there are typically four or five dials running both clockwise and counterclockwise.

To read a gas meter with dials, follow these steps:

1. Read only the dials with numbers. Read them from left to right. Record the number each hand points to. When the hand is between numbers, use the smaller number.
2. Keep this reading and read your meter one month later. The difference between the two readings is the amount of energy you used during the month.
3. Remember, your numbers may differ slightly from the numbers on your bill unless you read your meter at the exact same time as your meter reader.

Keep in mind, Atlanta Gas Light (AGL) reads your meter each month since they own and maintain the gas pipelines and your meter. They’ve gotten meter-reading down to a science. And now you have a better understanding of it as well!