The meter on a house measures the _______ passing through it.

• A. Watts
• B. Amps
• C. Ohms
• D. Volts

Answer: (A)

Power is the rate at which electrical energy is transferred, so the meter that tracks what flows through a house is measuring how much power is moving at that moment. The standard unit for this rate is the watt, and it comes from multiplying voltage (the pushing force) by current (the amount of charge flowing): P = V × I. That’s why the reading of what’s passing through the meter is expressed in watts.

It helps to keep in mind that, in practice, the house meter often records energy over time in kilowatt-hours, which is a total amount of energy used, not the instantaneous power. But the underlying concept is the same: watts quantify the rate of energy transfer. Volts measure electrical pressure, amps measure how much current is flowing, and ohms measure resistance; watts connect the two to describe how much power is being used.