How much electricity do you use in a week? Here's how to find out:

1. Download the weekly worksheet. Print it out or copy the information onto a piece of scrap paper.
2. Read your electric meter once a day at the same time each day.
3. Write down the number of kilowatt hours (kWh) your electric meter reads every day.
4. Enter your results right here in one week.
5. Can you use less electricity next week?

Here's how to read your electric meter:

To figure out how much electricity your household actually uses in a day (kWh per day), you'll need a grown-up's help reading your electrical meter.

1. Pick a time of day that you're always home and get a grown-up to help you find and read your electric meter.
   • Reading the meter can be kind of tricky. Each dial is one digit, but some dials turn backwards!
2. Write down the number on each dial of your meter.
   • If the hand points between numbers, write down the smaller number.
   • If you can't tell if the hand is past a number, look at the dial to the right. If that dial hasn't passed 0, then write down the smaller number.
   • This meter would read '86174' kilowatt hours.
3. The next day at the same time, read the numbers on your meter and write them down.
   • Every day is probably different in your family. Compare how much electricity your family uses on a weekend day with a weekday. What do you notice?
4. Write each day's number on your worksheet. If there are days you don't read your meter, just leave those days blank.