How to read your electric and gas meters

There are three kinds of electric meter: digital, electronic and dial meters. Here's how to read them.

How to read a digital meter 

Here's a typical digital meter display:

Write down numbers from left to right, ignoring any numbers in red or in a red surround.

If your tariff gives you lower-priced off-peak electricity like ECO20:20 or Economy 7 your meter may have two rows of figures as shown below:

If your meter has more than one row of figures, write down all the numbers from left to right in each row, ignoring any numbers in red or in a red surround. The previous meter readings on your bill will indicate which is a 'day rate' and which is a 'night rate'.

How to read an electronic meter

Here's a typical electronic meter display:

Some electronic meters have a cycle display button that you need to press to take readings; and some automatically scroll through the various displays. With a meter with two rows of figures, write down all the numbers from left to right in each display, ignoring any numbers in red or in a red surround. The previous readings on your bill will indicate which is a 'day rate' and which is the 'night rate'.

How to read a dial meter

Here's a typical electricity dial meter:

Each dial turns in the opposite direction to the one before it. Before you read your dial meter, check the direction of your dials. They may not be exactly as those illustrated above. Every dial on every meter revolves from 0 to 1 and through to 9, before continuing to 0 again. In the example above, the dial meter reading shows as 44928.

To read an electric dial meter correctly:

• Read the dials from left to right
• If the pointer is between the two numbers, always take the lower number
• If the pointer is directly over a number, write down that one
• If the pointer falls between 9 and 0, write down 9 and reduce the reading you've already taken for the dial on it's left by one. For example, if you originally recorded 5, reduce it to 4
• Don't read the last dial on the right

There are two types of gas meter: dial and digital. But before we talk about them, there’s a more fundamental question to answer:

Where is my gas meter? 

It’s not a silly question! You’d be surprised how many people don’t know.

If you own your home and there are similar properties nearby, ask a neighbour where their meter is. If you live in rented accommodation, your landlord should be able to tell you where to find the meter.

In most properties though, the gas meter will either be in the kitchen, in the hallway or outside in a cupboard or meter box.

Dial meter

Here's a typical gas dial meter:

To read correctly:

• Read the dials from left to right
• If the pointer is between two numbers, always take the lower number
• If the pointer falls between 9 and 0, write down 9
• Ignore red dials, ones marked '100 per rev' and the largest dial

So in this example, the dial meter reading will be 6653.

Each dial turns in the opposite direction to the one before it. Before you read your dial meter, check the direction of your dials. They may not be exactly as those illustrated above. Every dial on every meter revolves from 0 to 1 and on to 9 before continuing to 0 again.

Digital meter

Here's a typical gas digital meter:

To read correctly:

• Read the numbers from left to right, ignoring any numbers shown in red
• Ignore any digits in a red surround
• Ignore any printed zeros
• Ignore any digits after the decimal point