Some illegal methods involve applying a high-voltage pulse to the meter's input terminals. This can corrupt the memory chip. However:

If you genuinely need a zero reading (e.g., for a new tenant or sub-metering arrangement), ask for a "meter exchange for reset purposes." The utility will:

The short answer for most residential consumers is . Standard billing meters are designed to be tamper-proof and cumulative. They are official legal documents of your energy consumption owned by your utility provider.