Which electricity meter is best for your business?

Prepayment meters

These are only available in the domestic, non-business market. Mostly, they’re used by low-income users as a means of budgeting more effectively and using power more efficiently.

As a business-only supplier, Drax doesn’t support prepayment meters. We do, however, support the other types of meter covered below.

Conventional/traditional meters

Also known in the industry as ‘legacy’ meters, these devices are widespread among the business community – but possibly the least useful and efficient!

While these meters are simple, reliable, and do the job of measuring usage, they also have several drawbacks. These include having no interconnectivity with the supplier or wider energy infrastructure, and the need for a ‘manual read’.

This means the customer/user themselves, or a third party agent, must read the meter and provide the data to the supplier. This isn’t only inefficient and prone to human error, it’s also time-consuming and often inconvenient.

Single-rate/Two-rate/Three-rate meters

As the name implies, a single-rate (or ‘standard-rate’) meter charges a flat rate for the power consumed, regardless of the time of day. Therefore, it’s appropriate for smaller businesses with a consistent power demand across a ‘normal’ working day (e.g. 8am to 5pm, with no evenings, nights or weekends included).

A two-rate meter differentiates between peak and non-peak times of day, charging a higher unit rate per kilowatt hour (kWh) for the peak period. The peak/off-peak split depends upon which Distribution Network Operator (DNO) manages the power coming into the site(s). Two-rate meters are ideal for businesses that operate in the evenings, at night, or over weekends, since these periods tend to attract the cheaper off-peak rates.

A three-rate meter delineates the unit rate into a higher peak rate (usually the day), a cheaper off-peak value (at night) and a separate weekend rate (that’s lower than the peak rate). These meters may be a good option for businesses that operate mainly at night or weekends.

Automated Meter Reading (AMR) devices

AMRs are ‘remote-capable’ devices that can communicate in one direction. The usage data is accessible to the energy supplier, or a third-party agent, without the need for a physical read. This means users don’t have to read the meter themselves or arrange to be there for an agent’s meter-reading visits.

In addition to the added convenience of AMRs, the main benefit is that these devices calculate usage every 30 minutes and so provide a detailed level of data. Potentially, users and/or suppliers can analyse the usage and identify opportunities for changed behaviour.

Even though AMRs are effectively half-hourly (HH) meters, they’re not the same (see the separate ‘HH meters’ entry below). AMRs are most appropriate for businesses that don’t use as much electricity as larger consumers.

Smart meters

Smart meters, like AMRs, eliminate the need for manual reads. However, they have the advantage of offering two-way communication between the user and supplier, via a secure telecommunications network that the Data Communications Company – DCC – operates.

Smart meters provide the consumption data in real-time, for HH segments, allowing for highly accurate billing and usage analysis. In the other direction, it’s possible for suppliers to adjust the unit rate, monitor signal strength, and so on.

For both the supplier and customer, smart meters can offer insights into usage (e.g. patterns of use, or regular peak-time ‘incursions’) that the user could adjust, with careful planning. Any operational changes that the user makes could lead to less consumption, fewer carbon dioxide emissions, and reduced costs.

As part of a decentralised ‘smart grid’, these meters are also good news for the UK. The energy industry hopes that an automated, more intelligent network will be able to both recognise and rectify supply and demand imbalances more quickly than the existing, conventional network.

HH meters

While it’s true that AMRs and smart meters provide half-hourly data, HH meters are in a separate category specific to three user types. They comprise high-consumption users (100kW or more, in at least one 30-minute period of the day), and users with a Current Transformer (CT) or Whole Current (WC) meter.

If the usage is 100kW or higher for 30 minutes, the large business (e.g. a factory, warehouse or large office) is legally obliged to have a HH meter. Such organisations will liaise with their DNO to agree a maximum import capacity – the highest amount of power they can take from the grid at any given time. If the business exceeds this level of usage, the DNO will impose an excess capacity charge that the user must pay when it appears on the bill from their supplier.

Given the high levels of consumption involved, the HH data can be especially useful for businesses trying to identify usage patterns and then adjust operations in a bid to achieve savings. This is probably why some enterprises using over 70kW, but less than 100kW, choose to have a HH meter.

What’s next?

To discuss your organisation’s metering needs, please contact our specialist team.

Disclaimer

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