How do I read my energy meter and send the read to my retailer?
How to read basic, smart and gas meters, which digits to ignore, and how to lodge a dated self-read with your retailer before the bill is due.
Read the black digits left to right, keep the leading zeros, and ignore red digits, decimals and the small screen number. Check the meter number matches your bill, photograph the display with the date, and lodge the read through your retailer's app or form before the due date. If the retailer then refuses to re-bill, the National Energy Retail Rules give you a bill review and the energy ombudsman.
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Which meter do you have, and can you read it yourself?
You can read any basic electricity or gas meter yourself in a minute, and your retailer must accept the read if you lodge it properly before the due date. Smart meters are read remotely, so you only read one to check it.
Rule 21(3C) of the National Energy Retail Rules (NERR) requires every retailer to publish free, plain-language guidance on how to read your meter and how to lodge a read, and rule 21(3A) gives basic-meter customers the right to have an estimated bill replaced with their own read. The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) enforces the NERR outside Victoria; Victoria's Energy Retail Code of Practice has the same guidance duty in clause 59(7).
Read the black or white digits left to right, keep the leading zeros, and ignore anything red or after a decimal point.
Find your meter type first:
- Odometer (accumulation) electricity meter. A row of numbers like a car odometer. Write every digit left to right, including leading zeros, and skip a red or post-decimal last digit. The number only goes up, so your read must be higher than the last actual read on your bill.
- Dial (clock) electricity meter. Usually five dials that alternate direction. Read each dial left to right. If the pointer sits between two numbers, write the lower one, except between 9 and 0, where you write 9. If the pointer sits exactly on a number, check the dial to its right: if that dial has not passed 0, write the lower number.
- Digital basic meter. Press the display button to cycle screens; do not hold it, because on some meters a long press triggers hot water boost. On common types screen 03 is total energy used, 07 is controlled-load hot water and 13 is solar exported. Write down every register your bill lists and ignore the small two-digit screen number.
- Smart (interval) meter. It records usage in 5 or 30 minute intervals and sends it to the retailer remotely, so you do not self-read and the rule 21 self-read right does not apply. To sanity-check a bill, scroll to the total-usage register, subtract the read on your last bill, and compare the difference with the kWh billed.
- Metric gas meter. Shows cubic metres as a row of digits. Read the black or white digits and ignore the red ones. Your bill converts cubic metres to megajoules using the heating value and pressure factor printed on it.
- Imperial gas meter. Older clock-dial meters measuring cubic feet, now being phased out. Read the dials like an electricity dial meter and lodge the number in cubic feet. The retailer converts it.
Self-reads are on borrowed time. The Australian Energy Market Commission's November 2024 rule requires every National Electricity Market customer to have a smart meter by 2030 (the AER's date is 30 November 2030), and the accelerated rollout started in December 2025. Once your meter is swapped it is read remotely and the self-read right no longer applies, so keep a dated photo of the old meter's final read on installation day in case the closing bill is estimated. Gas meters are not part of the rollout, so gas self-reads continue.
What should you do first?
Step 1: Find the right meter and match the number
In a house the meter is usually on an outside wall, the porch or in the garage; in NSW gas meters can be under the kitchen sink. In apartments the meters sit together in the basement, car park or a cupboard on your floor, labelled by unit. Match the serial number on the meter to the meter number on your bill, not the NMI or MIRN, which identify the connection rather than the meter.
Look before you touch: spiders, spiky plants, anything marked danger or high voltage. Never open a box with a warning on it. If you cannot reach the meter safely, stop and ask the retailer for a special read.
Step 2: Ask in writing and set a deadline
Photograph the display so the digits and the meter number are both legible, with your phone's date stamp on. Lodge the read the way your retailer asks: AGL and Origin both use My Account or their app. Then send the same read and photo to the retailer's complaints email or web form so there is a dated record.
Subject: Self-read for account [account number], meter [meter number]
My bill dated [date] is based on an estimated read of [estimated read]. On [today's date] meter [meter number] reads [your read], photo attached. The register(s) read are [peak / off-peak / solar / gas].
Under rules 21(3A) and 21(3D) of the National Energy Retail Rules, please issue an adjusted bill based on this read at no extra charge within 14 days. If you reject the read, rule 21(3E) requires you to give me the specific reasons in writing.
Step 3: Check the bill against your read
The bill shows a start read, an end read and the difference in kWh or megajoules. Your read minus the start read is the usage to compare. Lodge before the due date: Origin, for example, adjusts an estimated bill within 5 business days of a valid self-read but rejects late ones.
Step 4: If your read and the bill disagree
Lower than the estimate means you were overcharged and the adjusted bill drops. Higher means a catch-up, which the retailer must offer in instalments. What the retailer must do next, and how far back it can bill, is on what to do about an incorrect estimated bill.
What if the retailer refuses your read?
It must tell you the specific reasons in writing, give you a way to fix the read, and point you to the energy ombudsman and a bill review (rules 21(3E) to 21(3G)). Fix a photo or digit problem and resend straight away; otherwise request a review under rule 29, during which the retailer can only require you to pay the undisputed portion or your 12-month average and cannot disconnect you. If the review fails, your state energy ombudsman is free and can order the bill corrected: the full escalation path, the back-billing limits and the ombudsman contacts are on what to do about an incorrect estimated bill.
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What doesn't work
- Reading the wrong meter. In a block of units the serial number on the meter must match the meter number on your bill, or the read is rejected.
- Dropping the leading zeros or adding the red digit. A read that is lower than the last actual read, or ten times higher, is a named rejection reason.
- Sending one register from a multi-register meter. If the bill lists peak, off-peak and solar, send all of them.
- A photo without the meter number or date. Rule 21(3E) lets the retailer reject a photo that does not show the correct meter clearly.
- Lodging after the due date. The retailer can refuse it and wait for the next scheduled read.
- Holding the display button. On some digital meters a long press switches on hot water boost rather than changing the screen.
Common questions
Which numbers on my meter do I ignore?
Red digits, anything after a decimal point or comma, and the small screen or register number on a digital display. Write every black or white digit from left to right, including leading zeros, and note the register label if there is more than one.
My meter shows peak, off-peak and solar. Which read do I send?
All of them. Cycle the display and write down each register your bill lists, with its label or screen number. AGL and Origin both ask for peak, off-peak and solar reads where they apply, and a bill cannot be adjusted on one register alone.
Can I submit a self-read for a smart meter?
No. Smart meters send interval data to the retailer remotely, and rule 21(3A) of the National Energy Retail Rules excludes interval-metered electricity from the self-read right. If a smart meter bill is estimated, ask the retailer to check the metering data or arrange a manual download, then request a bill review.
How often can I send a self-read?
As often as your retailer allows, which is usually any time before a bill is due. Origin accepts up to 11 self-reads a year because one actual read from the distributor is required every 12 months, and AGL accepts a read up to two days before the bill date.
Does an imperial gas meter need converting before I send it?
No, send the dial reading as it is. Imperial meters count cubic feet on clock dials; the retailer converts to cubic metres and then to megajoules using the heating value and pressure factor on your bill. Note on the form that the meter is imperial.
Will the retailer charge me for a self-read or a special meter read?
A self-read is free: rule 21(3D) says the adjusted bill must be issued at no extra charge. A special meter read by the distributor can be charged to you only if it shows the original bill was correct, and the retailer may pass on costs if your meter was inaccessible.
- Australian Energy Market Commission, National Energy Retail Rules, rule 21 Estimation as basis for bills
- Energy and Water Ombudsman Victoria, Electricity, gas and water meters
- Evoenergy, How to read your meter
- AGL, Read your own meter
- Origin Energy, Self meter read
- Australian Energy Regulator, Consumer rights and smart meters
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