Electricity in the Home
Tasmanians consume more electricity in their homes than other Australians. This is due to the relatively low cost of hydro-electricity, our cooler climate and the limited availability of supplies of natural gas.
Electricity is carried to retail customers by wires mounted on poles or by specially insulated and protected underground cables. Two wires (one active phase wire and one neutral wire) connect an electrical circuit from the distribution pole to the home. These service wires are covered with insulation.
Before entering our homes electricity passes through meters in the meter box. These are accurate devices which measure how much electrical energy we use. The meter consists of a series of dials each with 10 numbers.
The numbers are arranged either anticlockwise or clockwise and represent tens of thousands, thousands, hundreds, tens or units of a particular amount of electrical energy. One unit of electrical energy equals one kilowatt hour (kWh). This means that if a thousand watts of electrical power are used for one hour the right hand units dial will advance by one. The meter in the diagram shows a reading of 11,346 kWh. You can find out how much electrical energy you have used in a 24 hour period by reading your meter on two consecutive dates.
Different appliances require different amounts of power to make them work. Appliances that are expensive to operate are those that require large amounts of power and are being run for long periods of time.
Circuit-breakers and meters
in a meter box
Reading meters in a meter box
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