History:
Westminster Commission of Public Works (CPW) began providing electric service in the City of Westminster in the 1920's. In the 1970′s, the Commission joined with other municipal utilities through the Piedmont Municipal Power Agency to purchase 25 percent of a reactor at the Catawba Nuclear Power Plant. Currently, our electric power is supplied by this jointly-owned reactor.
In 2005 the CPW was dissolved and the operations of the Utility was assumed by the City. Westminster maintains one high voltage substation. Power is transmitted over more than twenty miles of overhead and less than five miles of underground distribution lines.
How to read your Electric meter:
Your electric meter measures the amount of electricity passing through our service lines into your property. The electricity consumed from Westminster is measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh). The standard billable unit of electricity is a kilowatt. A kilowatt is equivalent to 1,000 watts of energy. A kilowatt-hour equals 1,000 watts used for a period of one hour. For example, a 50 watt light bulb, burning for 20 hours would consume one kilowatt.
On a monthly basis, your utility meter is read to determine your monthly consumption of electricity. The reading for the current month are subtracted from the previous month’s reading to determine how much electricity you have used. Your monthly bill is based on this consumption.
For most of our electric customers, a digital meter is supplied to measure the electricity that is provided to each respective location. The digital reading on the display is read like a car’s odometer, left to right.
In the above illustration, the current reading is 03886 kilowatt-hours. To calculate the monthly usage, simply subtract the current reading from the previous months reading displayed on your bill. If your previous reading was 02701 for example, 1,185 kilowatt-hours were used between monthly meter readings. This usage is then applied to the applicable rate to determine the cost of your monthly bill.