About Meter Reading
Your electricity meter
In order to record your electricity consumption, a meter is installed on your premises. Consumption is measured in units called kilowatt hours. If you use one thousand watts power, you have used one kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity.
The consumption charges on your bill are calculated as follows:
Kilowatt hours used x unit price.
Who reads your meter?
ESB Networks is responsible for reading all electricity meters, regardless of who your supplier is. There is an obligation that a representative from ESB Networks attempts to read your meter four times over a one year period. These reading are then sent to Airtricity in order to calculate your bill. These are called 'actual' meter readings.
These 'actual' meter readings are taken subject to the ESB Networks Meter Reader gaining access to the meter. If the Meter Reader cannot access your meter for any reason, your meter will not be read. If there is any reason why a Meter Reader cannot gain access to read your meter (e.g. if there are specific opening hours for your premises or if there is something obstructing access to your meter), please contact Airtricity Customer Service on 1850 40 40 70 with access details.
Why meter readings are so important
Over a 12 month period, there are (at most) four actual meter readings from which your bills are calculated.
There are, therefore, eight months during which your bills will be calculated using estimated readings. These estimate readings are based on your most recent electricity consumption pattern.
Reading your own meter
In order for your bills to reflect your actual consumption on a more regular basis, you may provide Airtricity with a meter reading. This is called a 'customer read'.
How to calculate your monthly consumption
Meters are not reset each month (with the exception of a 'demand meter', used by Maximum Demand customers). The readings increase from month to month. The difference between one month's reading and the next, equals the units (kWh) that have been used during that billing period.
For example:
Current meter reading: 05899
Less previous meter reading: 05846
Equals units used 53kWh
If the rate per unit is (for example) 14.49c, your total consumption charges for that month would be €7.68 (53 units x 14.49c per unit)
Multipliers
For customers who use large amounts of electricity, meters may not have sufficient capacity to register consumption, so a 'multiplier' must be used. In this case, only a fraction of the actual kilowatt hours consumed is recorded. There meter readings must be multiplied by a specific factor - the multiplier - to determine actual consumption.
For example: based on a multiplier of 10
Current meter reading: 05899
Less previous meter reading: 05846
Equals units used 53kWh
If the rate per unit is (for example) 14.49c, your total consumption charges for that month would be €76.80 (53 units x multiplier of 10 x 14.49c per unit)
