Meters and Connection

You may well have noticed on your bill reference to peak, off-peak and shoulder charges.

The meaning of these vary according to the kind of tariff you’re on. This information can be found in the contract you received when you signed up to your natural gas or electricity plan.

If you’re on a time of use tariff, your electricity charges are different depending on the time of day, and your usage charges will show different amounts against peak, off-peak and shoulder times.

- Peak time is when most households are using energy and there is a high demand on the grid. Using energy during this time will mean you’ll be charged higher rates than in off-peak or shoulder periods.
- Off-peak time is the time of day when fewer people are using energy and there is less demand on the power grid. During this time, you can use energy at reduced rates.
- Shoulder time is the period between peak and off-peak where there is a normal demand on the power grid and your rates will sit somewhere in the middle.

A smart, or smart digital, meter records your electricity usage hourly. It then feeds it back to your retailer (us) every 1 to 2 days.

This is what you look out for:

- If you have a smart digital meter, you’ll be able to see hourly usage and multiple tabs.
- If you have a basic meter, you’ll see your usage by bill periods.

Although we do not accept self-meter read currently, knowing how to read your own meter still can help you to understand your usage and bills.

Click here to view the sample bill.

Step 1: Find

The most common place to find your electricity meter is:

- Front of house
- Garage
- Porch
- External wall

Step 2: Identify

Check the meter serial number matches the one on your bill.

There are many different types of meters. Here are the most common ones

- Clock display
- Odometer display
- Digital display

Step 3: Read

Making sense of the numbers is easy when you know what to look for.
On a Clock display meter, you’ll see a number of clocks on the screen:

- Read the clocks from left to right
- For some meters the clocks turn in opposite directions.
- f the clock hand is between 2 numbers record the lower number unless it is between 9 and 0 then it’s a 9 Odometer display meters often have a lot of zeroes.

Make sure you include all the leading zeroes.

- If a dial is between numbers, record the lower number.
- A digital display meter is the easy one. Just note down all the numbers.

When there are lots of clocks or zeroes on the screen, it’s helpful to check your last meter read and make sure the number is in a similar range.

An NMI, or National Meter Identifier, is a unique 10- or 11-digit number given to every networked electrical connection in Australia.

You will find your NMI in your customer portal, or on the first page of your bill.

We’re on it – your next bill will get sent out a week or two after your meter read.

A basic meter records your energy usage as you go, on a dial or display on the meter. It requires regular reading to understand your usage amounts between given periods of time. It’s calculated by adding up the kWhs (electricity).

As your retailer, we expect to upgrade your meter within 15 business days from the date we receive the electrical work request (EWR) from your distributors.

Please make sure your electrician sends the EWR to your distributor, otherwise we are not able to arrange meter upgrade for your premises.