FortisAlberta owns the meter that measures the consumption of electricity from your home or business. If you have a demand meter, we will make every effort to read your meter once every month. To help us, we ask that you provide us with safe access to your meter. Meter information is then sent to your retailer of choice, and the retailer then bills you for your consumption based on the information provided by FortisAlberta.
Automated Metering Technology
FortisAlberta is phasing in automated metering technology across our service area by the end of 2010. The meters provide automatic, accurate meter readings, eliminating the needs for estimated reads or bills. Click here to learn more.
Safe access to your meter
To ensure meter readers have safe access to your meter please consider the following:
- Keep pets inside or restrained in a dog run or on a leash.
- Your meter should not be obstructed by a locked gate.
- Maintain a safe pathway to your meter unobstructed by snow, ice, debris or other hazardous materials.
Frequently asked questions:
- Why didn't my meter read appear on my bill?
- How are estimates calculated?
- When will my meter be read?
- Who reads my electricity meter?
- What do I do if I suspect power theft?
- Is my meter tested for accuracy?
- What is a demand meter?
- Who requires demand metering?
- Why are multipliers required?
- Is the multiplier specific to my site?
- What is instrument metering?
- What happens if my demand meter stops registering?
- How is demand estimate calculated?
- What is interval metering?
- How often is the meter read for my irrigation service?
If you have questions about metering reading, contact one of our customer service representatives toll free in Alberta at 310-WIRE (9473).
1. Why didn't my meter read appear on my bill?
If you submitted a meter read during an estimated month, it will not appear on your bill. All valid submitted reads are used to calculate the estimate, but on your bill it will still appear as an estimate. However, the value of the estimate will be more accurate based on your submission.
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2. How are estimates calculated?
Estimates are calculated based on the previous year's consumption. The average daily usage of a site is calculated between actual reads and that value is used to generate the new estimate. For example, if a site used an average of 20kwh/day between the October 2006 actual read and the December 2006 actual read, the November 2007 estimate will be generated using 20kwh/day from the previous read on the account.
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3. When will my meter be read?
We will make every effort to read your residential meter every second month. For more information about when your site is scheduled for an actual read, please contact us at 310-WIRE or contact your retailer.
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4. Who reads my electricity meter?
Reading of your electrical meter is a service provided by FortisAlberta. Your meter will either be read by a FortisAlberta employee or by a third-party contractor hired by FortisAlberta.
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5. What do I do if I suspect power theft?
Meter tampering or power theft is illegal in
Canada it is also very dangerous and could cause serious harm. If you suspect that someone is tampering with your meter or a neighbouring meter contact FortisAlberta.
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6. Is my meter tested for accuracy?
Your electricity meter has passed many tests before being installed at your home. The electricity meter is a very accurate recording device. If the electricity charges for your home or business are higher than expected, chances are it is not because of the meter. A few things to consider are:
- Are you comparing your bill with a bill from the same period in the previous year? Month to month comparisons can be misleading due to changes in temperature etc.
- Has the number of people living in your home increased? Family visiting, out of town guests etc.
- Does your bill cover a greater amount of days?
- Have electricity rates increased?
- Have you added any new appliances? Do you have any older appliances that may no longer be functioning correctly?
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7. What is a demand meter?
Demand meters measure the energy consumption (kWh) and peak load (kW and/or kVA, demand) for a site. When a site requires a large amount of electricity, regardless of the length of time for which it is required, the electricity must be available to that customer. This means that distribution system must be built to be able to supply the peak amount of electricity required. By measuring the highest amount of power used at a site, FortisAlberta is better able to determine the energy requirements for that site.
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8. Who requires demand metering?
Demand meters are most commonly found on irrigation, commercial, oil field, and industrial sites.
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9. Why are multipliers required?
As a cost saving measure implemented by the manufacturer internal multipliers were built into the meter. This was so that the same meter parts could be used for multiple meter types. If your meter does not have a multiplier listed on the front of your meter your multiplier is one. FortisAlberta owned electronic meters all have an internal multiplier of 1.
The meter shown below has an internal multiplier of 2. This means, the kWh and Voltamp reading must be multiplied by 2 to obtain the actual values.
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10. Is the multiplier specific to my site?
Internal multipliers are specific to the meter and would not change without changing the meter. External multipliers are specific to the site and cannot be changed without changing the metering equipment (Current Transformers and Voltage Transformers); this work would be done by a technician.
See "What is Instrument Metering?" for more information on external multipliers.
To determine the overall multiplier for an installation, you multiply the internal and external multipliers together.
To determine the actual registration of a site, multiply demand and energy readings from the meter by the overall multiplier.
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11. What is Instrument Metering?
Instrument metering sites have voltage transformers (VT) and/or current transformers (CT). The volts and amps must be reduced or “stepped down†by transformers before entering the meter. The amount by which they are reduced is known as the external multiplier. To calculate the multiplier for this type of metering the internal multiplier is multiplied by the external multiplier to give you the overall multiplier for the site.
VT - 600 volts transformed to 120 volts are passing through the meter. 600/120 = VT = 5:1 ratio
CT - 400 amps transformed to 5 amps are passing through the meter. 400/5 = CT = 80:1 ratio
External Multiplier for site CT x VT = 80 x 5 = 400 multiplier for site
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12. What happens if my demand meter stops registering?
If the demand meter is no longer functioning the meter will be removed and replaced with a new meter.
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13. How is the demand estimate calculated?
The previous actual demand read value will be carried forward and used for the estimate.
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14. What is Interval Metering?
Interval metering measures the consumption at a site and sends in the meter data to a recorder in 15minute intervals. Interval meters and associated communication equipment are installed for a customer who has a demand of 333kW or greater. Newer electronic meters have a built in recorder that captures interval data.
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15. How often is the meter read for my irrigation service?
Your irrigation meter is read twice a year. At approximately half-way through the season, and at the end of the season.
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If these questions still do not explain a change in your consumption please contact us at 310-WIRE and we will be happy to discuss with you.
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