An Economy 7 meter (sometimes known as a two-rate meter) charges you two energy rates – one during the day, and another at night. You’ll be charged less when you use off-peak electricity at night.
Your two-rate meter will either have:
- two rows of numbers – a top row (labelled ‘low’, ‘night’ or ‘rate 1’) and a bottom row (labelled ‘normal’, ‘day’ or ‘rate 2’).
- a single digital display – this will show ‘rate 1’ and ‘rate 2’, one after the other, either on a cycle, or when you press the display test button.
To read a meter with two rows of numbers:
- Write down the numbers in both rows from left to right, including any zeros at the beginning.
- Ignore any numbers shown in red.
To read a meter with a single digital display:
- Press the display test button, if there is one.
- Read rate 1 (this is the low, or night, rate). Write down the numbers from left to right, including any zeros at the beginning.
- Press the display test button again, or wait until your meter shows rate 2 (this is the normal or day rate). Write down the numbers from left to right, including any zeros at the beginning.
The boxes will be labelled normal/day and low/night, so you’ll know exactly where to submit each reading.
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