# Totalizer readings: how sales are counted

> Explains petrol pump totalizer (meter) readings: a lifetime counter per nozzle, sales as closing less opening, test fuel returned to the tank, and the Weights and Measures seals required by MDG 2024.

Canonical: https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/totalizer-meter-reading/
Last updated: 2026-11-02

**Short answer:** A totalizer counts every litre a nozzle has ever delivered and never resets. A shift's or day's sale on a nozzle is its closing reading less its opening reading. Take off any test fuel poured back into the tank, because the meter counted it but nobody bought it.

## Two meters on a dispenser

- The **sale display** shows the current sale and goes back to zero before each customer.
- The **totalizer** counts every litre the nozzle has delivered, for its whole life. It is the figure for your registers.

## Working out the sale

```
litres sold on a nozzle = closing totalizer − opening totalizer − test fuel returned
```

Add the nozzles of a product together for the product's sale. This is line E, **sales as per meter**, in the [stock variation](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/stock-variation-4-percent-rule/) check.

## Common mistakes

- **Mixing up nozzles.** Machines that print several pump IDs repeat nozzle numbers. Write each reading against the nozzle's full name.
- **Copying a digit wrong.** One wrong digit in the thousands is a thousand litres in the stock.
- **Forgetting test fuel.** The daily [5 litre test](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/5-litre-measure-test/) on each nozzle is counted by the meter and poured back.

## The seals

Weights and Measures seal the metering unit and the totalizer with a sealing wire and an embossed lead seal. MDG 2024 asks the dealer to check them every day (clause 1.4.2 a). Seals are treated as tampered if they allow the totalizer reading to be changed, if the totalizer is deliberately stopped, or if a non-working totalizer is not reported (clause 5.1.3).

## Questions

### Can I divide the totalizer by the number of days to get average sales?

No. It is a lifetime count. Only the difference between two readings means anything.

### What if a totalizer seal is broken?

Stop sales through that dispenser at once and report it to your oil company. Sales stay stopped until the seals are replaced (MDG 2024 clause 1.4.2 a).

## Sources

- [BPCL, Marketing Discipline Guidelines 2024](https://www.bharatpetroleum.in/images/files/MDG-2024-Effective-24-10-2024.pdf)