Essential for accurately determining a household's consumption, reading the water meter is an important operation for establishing your bill or detecting potential water leaks.
How to read your meter correctly?
How to find it precisely?
Find out how to determine your actual water consumption.
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How do I read my water meter?
It is recommended to take a reading of your water meter every six months with a view to issuing the bill, and as frequently as necessary to ensure the meter is functioning properly.
Submeters, commonly called water meters, measure the quantity of water consumed on a plumbing installation in private homes.
There are two kinds:
Volume meters, with two dials: a black one indicating consumption in cubic meters, and a red or white dial.
Speedometers, with a single dial which has white numbers on a black background.
To read your water meter, carefully lift the cover.
You will see a series of numbers:
The
numbers on a black background
represent the meter index in cubic meters (m³) equivalent to 1000 liters, the only unit taken into account for billing.
The
numbers on a red background
, although not included in the invoice, indicate units less than the cubic meter (hectoliters, decalitres, liters, and sometimes deciliters) and can help detect a leak.
Please note that you can install a connected smart meter which transmits your water consumption in real time to your water supplier for precise monitoring and not according to the estimated quantity of water volume.
Regardless of the type of meter, the index displayed corresponds to the quantity of water consumed since the meter was commissioned or reset.
To find out the water consumption over the past period, subtract the quantity previously recorded from that currently displayed.
And to calculate the amount of your invoice, multiply the quantity in m³ by the unit price mentioned on your subscription contract.
How do I read my water meter?
The annual water meter reading is generally carried out by a technician from the Water and Sanitation Union or by a person mandated by the community.
During this operation, the technician can report possible anomalies, in particular water leaks, and provide advice.
If you are not present at the time of his visit, the technician will leave a pre-paid card in your mailbox, to be returned completed.
Once you have located the meter, you must read your meter:
Locate the decimal point, with whole numbers one color, frequently black on a white background, and fractions on the other side of the decimal point in red.
The unit to be noted is the cubic meter, excluding litres, hectoliters, deciliters, etc.
The value recorded must be noted on a piece of paper, indicating the unit.
Then send these figures to the company that supplies the water, either via the pre-paid card, by telephone or online from your customer area.
This reading is essential to quantify actual consumption and establish the annual bill, thus contributing to efficient management of water resources.
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How to detect a leak by looking at the meter?
If you find your bill too high or have the impression that there is a water leak in your home, you can confirm this by looking at your meter.
To confirm the presence of a leak, follow these steps:
Record the consumption in deciliters;
Close all taps and the toilet valve;
Wait a few minutes;
Note the deciliter figure again;
If the latter has changed, this indicates a leak in the internal pipe network.
Indeed, in the event of a significant leak, the deciliter figures will increase even when all the taps are closed.
You will then have to close the tap on each water inlet, one after the other, until the water meter stops to identify where the leak is coming from.
Another point to check: the rotating star in the center of the clock is an accurate indicator of water circulation.
If it runs without use, a leak is likely.
Detecting leaks early is essential to preventing damage to your property and reducing your water bill.
To know
In the event of abnormal overconsumption, the law requires the water supplier to notify the subscriber so that he can carry out checks and repair the leaks.
In the absence of warning or if the repairs are carried out within the following month, the customer will not pay the part of the bill exceeding double the average consumption.
Knowing how to read your meter allows you to take a correct reading and guarantee the accuracy of the amount of the water service bill.
Above all, this allows potential anomalies to be detected before it is too late.