Find out how to read your meter and submit your readings to us.
Say goodbye to manual meter readings and estimated bills with a new smart meter – visit our smart meters page.
How to submit your meter readings
There are several ways you can submit your meter readings to us:
- Submit meter readings online
- Phone 0345 071 9894 (automated phone line)
- Email b2b.meter.readings@sse.com
- Post your readings to:
SSE Energy Solutions
No. 1 Forbury Place
43 Forbury Road
Reading
RG1 3JH
How we use your meter readings
We validate the meter readings against your previous usage and may ask you to resubmit them if we believe they may be incorrect. The date that your reading was taken will determine how we use this data:
- Where your validated meter reading has been taken within five days of the invoice date (either before or after), and the existing reading has been estimated, we’ll use your reading to generate your new bill.
- If your validated reading is outside of the five-day window, we’ll use your reading to build up a picture of your consumption profile, which will help if future invoices need to be estimated.
How to read your meter
When reading your meter, you may find it useful to have your last energy invoice to hand to compare those figures with what’s shown on the meter. It’s also worth noting the time on your watch or phone to ensure it tallies with the time on your meter’s clock display. If there is any discrepancy, please raise it as a billing enquiry via our online form.
Electricity meters
There are three main types of electricity meters – digital, mechanical dial and mechanical clock face.
Digital
A digital electricity meter shows your current meter reading on a digital display. Each display will show a two-character code (your Register ID) along with your meter reading.
Follow these steps to record the data from your digital electricity meter:
- Read the meter display from left to right.
- Press the button on the front of your meter to scroll through the display and get your readings.
- Please record all registers and values from the meter, including zeros.
- Ignore any numbers in red and anything that appears after a decimal point or space.
In some cases, your meter may have multiple readings which we use to invoice you.
Mechanical dial
These are probably the easiest of meters to read as they’re likely to have no more than two registers and both are visible at the same time.
When providing your meter reading, please supply all registers along with the name the meter has by the side of the register. If your register shows Day/Night or High/Low, note this down.
In most cases, you’ll see a dial that’s a different colour to the other dials in each register. Please ignore this dial. In a few cases, there may be two dials that are different to the others – in these cases you can ignore both.
Mechanical clock face
This older type of meter has clock displays and you may find it easier to write down the numbers as you read them.
The figures to use are the ones the indicator has passed and not necessarily the one it may be pointing at.
For example, the dials below read 63,399 kWh.
Follow these steps to record the data:
- Read the dials from left to right.
- If the pointer on a dial is between two numbers, write down the lower number. (So while the 100 units dial seems to be pointing towards the 4, the indicator on the 10 units dial has passed the 9 but not the 0. Likewise with the 1 unit dial, making the last three figures of the meter reading 399).
- The last dial is a different colour to the other dials and can be ignored.
- If in doubt, draw the position of the dials or take a picture of them. Then check with a colleague to see if you agree on the reading. That will give you something to refer to if we question the reading.
Gas meters
There are two types of gas meters – mechanical dial and mechanical clock face. Some gas meters have both features, but we only require the figures from the mechanical dials (and not from the clock face or from any red dials).
Mechanical dial meters
It’s very unlikely that you’ll have more than one set of dials on a mechanical gas meter. So it’s very easy to record the reading from this type of meter.
As with electricity mechanical dial meters, record the reading on the meter, ignoring those that are of a different colour to the other dials. (This is usually one dial but could be two.)
Mechanical clock face
This older type of gas meter has clock displays and you may find it easier to write down the numbers as you read them.
The figures to use are the ones the indicator has passed and not necessarily the one it may be pointing at. The last dial is a different colour to the other dials and can be ignored.
For example, the dials below read 9469.
