FPL employees are regularly in neighborhoods for reasons including reading or working on electric meters, administering home energy-saving programs and maintaining power lines. However, we occasionally hear reports of people posing as FPL employees. Please remember that all FPL employees carry a photo identification badge and our contractors have a contractor badge or can provide a work request number and an FPL supervisor name and number. Ask to see it and call us to verify, if you are in doubt. Protect yourself.
Please also remember that removing obstacles helps our meter readers work safely on your property and provide you with accurate bills.
The amount of your bill is determined by your monthly kilowatt-hour (kWh) usage, which is measured by your electric meter. To determine the amount of electricity you have used during the billing period, we subtract the prior month’s reading from the current reading.
If you have a smart meter that has been activated, we read the meter remotely each month. But you don’t have to wait until your bill arrives to determine your usage. You can go to your energy dashboard to see how much energy you’re using by the month and day. If your smart meter hasn’t been activated yet (a process that occurs several months after installation) or you have a standard mechanical meter, an FPL meter reader will manually read the meter each month.
Estimated bills
Please make sure to provide safe access to your meter at all times to ensure an accurate reading of your energy use. When something prevents our meter readers from reading the meter, they are required to make an estimate of your monthly energy use. Reasons for estimated bills include:
Locked entrance preventing access to meter
Dog(s) blocking the pathway to the meter
Severe weather
When an estimated bill is required, the estimate is made based on your history of electric usage at your address. Your bill will state whether it contains an estimated amount. Once a true reading can be made on your meter, we can correct the previous estimate to show actual usage from the last time that we read your meter. If our estimate was too high or too low, your next bill will be automatically adjusted.
The date we read your meter varies slightly from month to month due to weekends and holidays and the total number of days in a month; therefore the number of days included in your monthly bill can vary between 25 and 35. So, even if you use the same amount of electricity per day, your bill may vary from one month to the next, depending upon the number of days included in your bill. We read meters Mondays through Fridays and certain Saturdays. Your next meter reading date can be seen on your last paper bill or on your last online statement. Read your energy use for yourself: Learn how to read your meter.
Meter Reading Reminders
To help ensure safe access to your meter, we can call you the evening before or the morning of you scheduled meter reading. This is a pre-recorded, friendly reminder to secure your dogs and unlock any gates. Please contact us to enroll in the Call Ahead Service program.
Providing Safe Access to Your Meter
At FPL, safety is our first priority but we need your help to keep employees safe. Customers are required by law to provide our meter readers a safe path to access the electric meter. Customers must:
For meter readers, one of the biggest threats to safety is dogs. To avoid bites or harm to an animal, our meter readers will only enter a property if: