Understand your meters
Only be charged for your actual energy use
Getting to grips with your gas and electricity use is really important.
It all starts with your meters. By submitting regular meter readings to your energy supplier, you will get more accurate billing.
If you aren’t sending meter readings each month, your supplier will estimate the amount of energy they think you are using. This can be inaccurate and means that energy saving measures you are taking in the home may not be reflected in your bill!
Keeping your account up to date, rather than relying on estimated usage, can be very helpful if you have a direct debit set up. It means you won’t overpay for energy you are not using, or underpay, which can lead to debt that needs to be paid at a later date.
Our Green Doctors have identified helpful impartial advice on what can really make a difference in reducing bills and saving energy.
Download our supporting home resources – our action plan, our meal and shopping planners, and our stickers – to help you make changes which stick.
Finding and reading your meter
It’s easy to take a reading and submit it to your supplier. If you don’t already know where to find your gas and electric meters, now is a good time to check. All you’ll need to access them is a meter box key (or similar).
For your gas usage, read the number that shows how many m³ (cubic metres) you have used.
For electricity usage, read the amount of kWh (kilowatt hours) used by your home.
Remember, you don’t need to provide the number after the decimal point and you should take note of any zeros (0s) at the start of the reading.
It can be helpful to take a photo of the meters for your records, or you may want to write it down in a notebook so you can track your usage every month.
Then it’s simply a case of submitting your readings to your supplier to make sure you get an accurate bill. This can normally be done either over the phone, or online.
Reducing use and tracking costs with smart meters
Smart meters help you to adopt energy-saving behaviours and reduce overall energy use in the average home by around 3% – which would add up to a cost-saving of over £60 per year.
Smart meters automatically send readings about your gas and electricity use to the energy company, removing the need for you to regularly do it yourself.
You can also get an in-home display alongside your smart meter, which can help you in keeping an eye on how much energy you’re using and how much it costs.
Speak to your energy supplier about how a smart meter could work for you.
Make a plan. Stay warm. Save energy.
- Place a monthly sticker on your calendar to remind you when to submit a reading.
- Having troubling remembering to read your meter? Set a monthly reminder on your phone.
