Monitoring your meter

Knowing how to read your meter is important so that you can make sure that your energy bill is correct. Additionally, if you are finding your energy bills are too expensive, it might be possible to change your meter to make monitoring your energy use more easy.

What type of meter do you have?

There are three different types of meters in the UK.

Standard meters

A standard meter is a basic electromechanical induction meter, and usually measures your electricity consumption in terms of kilowatt-hours - the amount of energy used by a load of one kilowatt over the period of one hour. When this meter is installed, all electricity units are charged at the same rate, 24 hours a day.

Variable rate meters

Variable rate meters, or "economy 7 meters" as they are sometimes called, give two readings: one for daytime usage and one for night-time electricity usage. You might have one of these meters is your energy supplier offers variable rates (for example, you may pay less for your electricity at night).

Prepayment meters

Prepayment meters usually accept tokens or cards that can be bought or topped up, respectively. If the customer stops paying for electricity, the electricity supply will be cut off by a relay fitted into the meter. The advantage of this kind of meter is that you can budget for how much electricity you use by paying for it before you use it.

How to read meters

Numeric Display

Reading your meter is simple. If it is off the standard type, the first five figures, read from left to right, give you your energy reading.

For a variable rate meter, you will have to read off both sets of numbers, but ignore the last number from each row.

Meter Disputes

All meters used in the UK have to be approved and verified by Ofgem and meet certain accuracy limits before they can be used for billing. The owner of the meter has to ensure that the meter is accurate and if there is any dispute from either the consumer or the supplier as to the accuracy of a meter reading then Ofgem will provide a service to test and certify the meter.

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