A LUCELEC technician testing customer meters at the meter test bench.

Customer Service

Your meter

Reading it regularly shows what you are using as you use it, rather than a month after the fact.

What a kilowatt hour is

Electricity is measured in units called kilowatt hours. A kilowatt hour is consumed when you use one kilowatt continuously for one hour. All electrical equipment has a kilowatt rating, usually printed on the equipment. Sometimes you will see amps (A) or kVA instead — a kVA is approximately equal to a kilowatt for most domestic loads, and four amps on a 240-volt device is also about one kilowatt.

For example: an electric kettle rated at 1 kW used for 15 minutes uses 1 × 15/60 = ¼ kilowatt hour. Your consumption is shown on your bill in kWh for the current month and for the previous three months, which makes it easy to monitor your usage.

Reading a digital meter

Over 99% of LUCELEC customers have AMI digital meters. A digital meter is simple to read: just read off the numbers shown on the front. If you read your meter about the same date each month and subtract the previous reading from the current one, you have your consumption for the month.

For example: if on 1 January your meter reads 41,360 kilowatt hours and on 1 February it reads 41,440, your consumption for that month is 80 units.

Reading an electromechanical meter

Reading an electromechanical meter is similar. Read the numbers shown on the front from left to right, then subtract the reading at the end of the last billing period from the current reading to get the consumption in kWh for the current period.

Understanding demand

What your appliances cost to run

Plan for increases in load demand caused by new equipment and appliances, because these will affect your bill. In many cases the reason for higher than usual consumption is something recently added.

Estimate what an appliance costs

Tick what you run, adjust the hours to match your household, and the cost is worked out at the current tariff.

Light bulb100 Whrs/month$22.09
Light bulb60 Whrs/month$13.50
Colour television330 Whrs/month$49.08
Toaster1150 Whrs/month$4.91
Air conditioner6000 BTUhrs/month$368.10
Refrigerator500 Whrs/month$184.05

Tick an appliance to start$0.00a month

An estimate, at $1.227 per unit — the domestic rate for October 2026, including the fuel charge. It excludes the minimum monthly charge and VAT.

Average appliance usage, as published

Average monthly hours and consumption by appliance, as published by LUCELEC
Appliance	Average hours a month	Monthly consumption
Light bulb100 W	180	18 kWh
Light bulb60 W	180	11 kWh
Colour television330 W	121	40 kWh
Toaster1150 W	3	4 kWh
Air conditioner6000 BTU	310	300 kWh
Refrigerator500 W	500	150 kWh

Consumption complaints

If your consumption looks wrong

LUCELEC is committed to resolving customer complaints about the consumption billed at the end of every monthly cycle. These are often addressed by correcting an error, or by explaining the results of an investigation into the complaint.

Quite often the reason for a significant change in consumption is the customer's own appliances, or the quality of the electrical installation.

If you think the meter itself is inaccurate, the charter commits us to an investigator within two working days and a formal response within five. Read the charter.

Query your consumption

Or call, text or WhatsApp +1 (758) 285-6796 · +1 (758) 285-7859 · +1 (758) 285-3593 · +1 (758) 285-3329

Customer service