Where Is My Electricity Meter?

If you’ve searched all around your house, and you simply just can’t find your electricity meter (sometimes known as an electric meter, energy meter or electrical meter), don’t worry. When your home was built, it’s most likely that your meter was installed on the outside of your property. The reason for doing this is so that the meter readers could come by and take readings, without coming into your home or disturbing you.

What Does It Look Like?

You should start by looking for either the box or cupboard that it’s housed in. Perhaps you have a porch space, or an extension and the electricity meter has been incorporated into this. Maybe there is a small metal cupboard, which will appear flat on the outside on your home, but will have maybe 20-30cm of depth when opened.

Inside, you will find the meter itself, a small device fixed in one place, about the size of an old video cassette. Generally, they are white or black, and will be either analogue or digital. Older analogue meters are fitted with a ticker than rotates as the home uses electricity, whereas newer homes are usually fitted with modern electricity meters that feature a digital display, and multiple viewing options.

Continue reading ‘Where is my electricity meter?’ below…

Why Do You Need To Know ‘Where is my electricity meter?’.

Energy companies use electricity meters to measure how much energy has been delivered to the home (or business) during the billing period. They measure this information in kWh, kilowatt hours, and will usually read the information once per billing period.

It is beneficial to you to know the answer to ‘Where is my electricity meter?’ when you’re trying to change providers, as you may be asked for a reading. It may also useful to know the location if you are attempting to make energy savings, due to having a tariff that charges different amounts at different times of the day and night.

A third benefit is that sometimes customers get billed incorrectly, leaving them out of pocket due to no fault of their own; by tracking your meter readings, you will be able to compare your figures with the energy company, and maybe even claim some cash back! However, energy companies are permitted a small percentage of leeway on their readings, and 93% of claimants fail in their attempts!

‘I live in an apartment building, where is my electricity meter?’

If you are living in an apartment building, and being billed directly for your energy usage, you definitely have an electricity meter, but it’s possible it won’t be inside your apartment. Quite often when these blocks were built, the energy facilities were centralised into one room, likely to be on the ground floor. Each meter should be labelled for the apartment it corresponds too, but this is not guaranteed, so in that case, consult your landlord.

If you aren’t being billed by the energy company, but instead by your landlord, it’s likely that they have just one meter, and are charging you a percentage of that.

Your Meter Numbers

Another reason you might need to look at your electricity meter is to get your meter number, which you will usually find as an 11-digit code. It should start with two letters, indicating the manufacturer, and two numbers, indicating the year of calibration.

Conclusion

Still not sure where your electricity meter’s located? Start by looking on the exterior walls of your home, and if you can’t find it, contact your landlord instead.