Taking the Mystery out of Your Electric Meter

Every time you flip a switch, slip bread into the toaster, or power-up a fan or heater, you're making a purchase of electrical energy. Just how much electricity you buy over any given billing period is accurately measured by that glass-domed "whirligig" attached to every home and business in Alameda, the electric meter.

Since its birth in 1881, the electric meter has undergone a great number of technical revisions. One hundred and twenty years later, modern electric meters have been designed to give our customers a precise, dependable record of their electrical usage over an uncanny 40-year life expectancy. It wasn't always that way, however.

Counting Light Bulbs

First, there were candles and oil lamps, then residential gas lighting. In 1895, the marriage of electric power and the incandescent light bulb revolutionized the comfort and safety of homes and businesses throughout Alameda.

During the late 1800s, electric utilities rarely supplied their customers with meters; they were just too expensive. Those who wanted the accuracy of a meter would have to pay a month's wages for the luxury. At that time, the most common and cost-effective alternative was a flat monthly rate based upon the number of light bulbs in use. Records from the year 1896 indicate that, of Alameda's 125 electrical consumers, only 11 had meters. The rest paid 60 to 80 cents per month for every 60-candlepower lamp (roughly the equivalent of a modern 20-watt bulb) that burned in their home.

By the turn of the century, Alameda Power & Telecom began providing customers with electric meters. By 1917, the "per bulb" rate schedule was just a memory. Everyone had a meter. For the next 20 years, the variety and technical complexity of electric meters mushroomed, until the 1940s, when a standard meter configuration was established. To this day, with few variations, this standard can be found measuring electrical use from Alameda to Annapolis.

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