Submit your business energy meter reading
Learn how to read your electricity or gas meter and submit your readings to us. By sending a meter reading each month, you'll get bills based on your real energy use not estimates.
Or say goodbye to manual meter readings and estimated bills. Get a new smart meter by visiting our smart meters page.
How do I submit my business meter reading?
- Online: The quickest and easiest way. Submit your meter readings online
- Phone: Call 0345 071 9894 (automated phone line)
- Email b2b.meter.readings@sse.com
- Post: Write to:
SSE Energy Solutions
No. 1 Forbury Place
43 Forbury Road
Reading
RG1 3JH
How does SSE use my meter readings?
To ensure your bill is accurate, we'll always check ("validate") your reading against past usage and may ask you to resubmit if we believe it may be incorrect. The date you take the reading affects how it's used:
- If you submit your reading within five days before or after your invoice date, and the existing reading was estimated, we'll update your bill.
- Even if your reading falls outside the five-day window, we'll still record it to improve your usage profile so that any future estimated bills are based on more accurate data.
How do I read my energy 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.
Your meter type affects how you take the reading. Below are instructions for common electricity and gas meters.
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 meters are probably the easiest to read. They usually have no more than two registers, and both are visible at once.
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. This also applies to 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.
