Half Hourly Meters

Install a half-hourly meter if you want energy billing based on actual usage, instead of estimations. Half-hourly meters are great for businesses with an annual electricity usage of 70,000 kWh or more, and they can offer great value tariffs for your business needs.

Learn more about half-hourly meters below, find out what they are, how to take half-hourly meter readings, which energy suppliers offer half-hourly meters, and how much they can cost to install.

Book A Half-Hourly Meter Installation

What Are Half-Hourly Meters?

Half-hourly meters take automatic meter readings every 30 minutes and send them directly to your electricity supplier so they can track your actual usage. 

Suppose your business uses more than 70,000 kWh per annum. In that case, you will greatly benefit from a half-hourly meter as the automated half-hourly readings sent to your supplier will provide them with actual usage, avoid estimations, and highlight any peak hours where consumption is at its highest.

Half-hourly meters can help your business identify when you are using the most energy, and how you can streamline efficiencies to save money and avoid overcharging on billing estimates.

How Do Half-Hourly Meters Work?

Half-hourly meters can also be referred to as HH or 00 meters, they automatically record and send electricity consumption data to your business energy supplier every half an hour (30 minutes). 

They use automatic meter reading (AMR) or smart meter technology to send the readings via a fixed phone line or mobile signal. This means that suppliers can accurately bill you for your energy usage, and may be able to offer tariffs tailored to your specific needs.

The data transferred to your energy supplier can also be used to identify ways to reduce energy usage and carbon footprint. They can also help ensure the electricity grid has enough capacity to meet demand, as even small spikes in usage can put pressure on the transmission network for larger electricity consumers.

How To Get A Half-Hourly Meter Installed?

A half-hourly meter operator (MOP) is a company that installs and maintains electricity meters. MOP contracts and electricity supply contracts are separate and cover all metering-related work. 

MOPs cover installation, maintenance, rental, callouts for data retrieval faults, and meter communication equipment.

Which Businesses Need A Half-Hourly Meter?

Businesses that use 100 kW or more of electricity for 30 minutes are required by law to use a half-hourly meter. If your business has a maximum demand of 70 kW or more can also choose to install a half-hourly meter.

Half-hourly meters are designed for large, energy-intensive businesses such as factories, warehouses, and large office sites. They can also be used by businesses in industries like department stores and distribution centres.

Arrange A Meter Installation Today

Half Hourly Meter Readings

Half-hourly meters send automatic readings directly to your supplier, which means you don’t need to do manual readings. 

The readings from your half-hourly meter can provide your energy suppliers with:

• Accurate, up-to-date billing without estimation
• Convenient automatic readings, with no need for manual meter readings
• Efficient data that can be used to highlight consumption throughout the day so you can take advantage of savings and reduce your carbon footprint

Half Hourly Meter Suppliers

We can arrange a half-hourly meter installation for you through our panel of trusted meter suppliers. Our role at Dealtopia is to secure you even better savings on your energy, we will negotiate with suppliers to get you the savings you deserve and can offer free meter installations with your designated supplier.

As MOP contracts and electricity supply contracts are separate we also work with the meter operator provider, Siemens, so we can get you a full installation in up to 2 weeks. 

Half Hourly Electricity Prices

Half-hourly electricity prices can vary depending on the energy supplier and your average consumption value. It can also be determined by the type of contract you are on:

Most half-hourly meters are on a day rate and a night rate and the hours vary depending on your tariff, but are usually between 7 AM to 12 AM, and 12 AM to 7 AM—very few suppliers bill on a single rate for 24 hours a day with a half-hourly meter.

You can also secure a three-rate tariff with some suppliers, which means there will be one rate for weekends, another for evenings, and a rate for nights. 

Half-Hourly Meter Contract Types

The pricing for half-hourly meters can also be affected if you choose a pass-through contract or a fixed-price contract.

A pass-through contract separates any charges, like wholesale pricing, the transmission and distribution charges from the network, and government taxes and levies. This means your electricity charge will be shown without the network or government charges.

A fixed-price contract combines individual prices into the price per kWh and standing charge.

Arrange A Meter Installation Today

Half Hourly Meter FAQs

Are Half-Hourly Meters More Expensive?

Half-hourly meters can be more expensive than standard meters as they can have higher standing charges, capacity charges, and additional costs for meter operator charges (MOP) and data collection (DC). 

However, half-hourly meters can help to determine the accuracy of pricing against actual consumption, which can lead to significant savings for customers who use the data correctly.

Why Did My Business Get Moved To A Half-Hourly Meter?

If you were previously on a 05, 06, 07, or 08 meter, you would have been moved to a half-hourly meter by law. This is because a market-wide half-hourly settlement was introduced to manage businesses that are high-power-consuming, to avoid national shortages and keep billing accurate based on actual usage.