How do I find my gas supplier?

The tool does more than name the company. It returns your Meter Point Reference Number (MPRN), the unique reference that identifies the gas supply at your property, and the gas transporter that owns the pipes⁴. That combination is what you need when moving in, switching supplier or querying a bill, because the supplier name alone does not tell a new supplier which meter point to take over.

This page covers what the tool returns, who runs the database behind it, what to do when there is no bill to hand, and where else the MPRN appears. It also sets out the limits: the lookup covers gas meter points on the mainland registration database, and Northern Ireland sits outside that arrangement⁵.

Find your gas supplier in seconds with the free Find My Supplier tool

The lookup is deliberately minimal. You enter your postcode and house number, and the tool searches the database and finds your gas supplier within seconds². Guidance for households moving home describes the same route: entering your postcode in the Find My Supplier tool and selecting your address identifies the new gas supplier⁷. A separate guide notes that the service requires only a postcode to identify your gas supplier⁴.

That matters because the supplier attached to a property is not always obvious. A previous occupant's choice, a deemed contract that rolled on after a move, or a supplier change made without the household's involvement all leave the meter registered to a company the new occupant may never have heard of. The lookup reads the registration rather than the household's memory, so it settles the question in one step.

The tool is free to use and needs no account. The paid alternative is the phone line, and the charge is stated plainly: calls to 0870 608 1524 are charged at 7p per minute, plus your phone company's access charge³. For a household without internet access, that is the route to the same registration data.

Once the supplier is known, the practical next steps are the ones set out for a new home: find out who your energy supplier is, contact them to say you have moved in, and submit meter readings with photographs as evidence⁸. The lookup answers the first of those; the rest is administration with the company it names.

What the tool gives you: supplier, MPRN and gas transporter

Find My Supplier returns three things. You can use it to discover who supplies your gas, as well as your MPRN number and gas transporter⁴. The tool's own description confirms it provides your gas supplier and your meter point reference number, and notes the MPRN is needed if you want to change the gas supplier². A consumer guide lists the outputs as Meter Point Reference Number, Gas Supplier and Gas Transporter¹.

The three are not interchangeable, and the difference explains why the lookup returns all of them.

The supplier is responsible for the installation and maintenance of your gas meter, owns the gas and sends the bills⁷. A network operator puts it the same way: the supplier owns the meter and the gas transported through the pipes and is responsible for installation, maintenance and billing². Faults on the meter go to the supplier, whose number sits at the top of your energy bill⁹.

The transporter is a different company again. Gas transmission is owned and operated by National Grid Gas, the exception to the usual separation of network ownership¹⁰. For a household, the practical split is simple: the meter and the bill belong to the supplier, the pipes belong to the transporter, and the lookup names both.

Who runs it: Xoserve and the central gas registration database

The lookup reads a registration record, not a marketing list. Unregistered gas usage is defined as a customer having a meter on site which is not registered to a supplier on the National Database Xoserve¹¹. That database is the reference point the tool queries, which is why it can name a supplier a household has never dealt with.

The arrangement reflects how the gas market is separated. Suppliers buy and bill; networks move the gas. Gas transmission is owned and operated by National Grid Gas¹⁰, and the distribution networks that reach homes are separate regional companies. The registration database sits between them, recording which supplier holds each meter point.

That structure has a consequence for accuracy. Because the record is the registration rather than the household's contract, it reflects the position on the database at the time of the search. A switch that has been agreed but not yet registered, or a supplier change following a company failure, may take time to appear. Where a supplier has stopped trading, the Supplier of Last Resort process applies to both gas and electricity suppliers to residential users in the UK, excluding Northern Ireland⁵, and customers are moved to a new supplier under that process.

No bill? Checking a recent bill or contacting the Meter Point Administration Service

A recent bill is the other reliable route. Your MPRN can be found on your gas bill or by using the Find My Supplier search tool¹, and it can normally be found on your bill from your gas supplier, though it can sometimes be difficult to spot¹². On a bill it may appear as a Meter Point Reference Number or an M number¹³.

If there is no bill, the phone line is the fallback. The number published for gas supplier enquiries through Find My Supplier is 0870 608 1524¹⁴, and calls are charged at 7p per minute plus your phone company's access charge³. For gas meter issues, the guidance is to call your gas supplier, whose number can be found at the top of your energy bill⁹.

Where the meter itself is the problem, the supplier is the first contact. Your gas supplier, who you pay your gas bill to, is responsible for your meter and any faults¹⁵. Network operators publish their own emergency and safety guidance separately, including on carbon monoxide and staying safe and warm in winter¹².

For a rented home, the supplier can also be established from the landlord: you can find out who the supplier is from your landlord⁸. That is often faster than a lookup when the tenancy has just begun and no bill has arrived.

What the MPRN is and where else to find it

An MPRN is a unique reference number assigned to your gas and electricity supply¹⁶. More precisely for gas, it is the number which identifies your gas meter¹⁷, and it is used by energy suppliers to identify the gas supply at your property³. It is a way of identifying the unique gas supply to your property⁴, and a unique registration number for your meter, used to check the meter on a bill is correct⁶.

It is a number between six and 11 digits on your gas meter⁶. Beyond the bill and the lookup tool, it can usually be found on your gas meter or a recent bill¹⁷, and it is normally on your bill from your gas supplier¹².

The MPRN belongs to the property, not the occupant. That is why it survives a change of household, a change of supplier and a period when the property stood empty. It is the identifier a new supplier needs to take over the right meter point, and the one that confirms a bill refers to the meter actually installed.

For a household, the MPRN is the practical key to independence of action. Without it, a switch can stall or attach to the wrong meter point; with it, the household can move supplier without depending on the outgoing company to explain the account. The lookup that returns it is free, and the phone line that returns it costs 7p per minute plus access charge³.

Where the lookup stops, and what remains dependent

The tool covers gas meter points on the mainland registration database. The Supplier of Last Resort standard approach applies to both gas and electricity suppliers to residential users in the UK, excluding Northern Ireland⁵, and Northern Ireland's gas market sits outside the GB registration arrangement, so the lookup does not work the same way there. Households in Northern Ireland are served by separate suppliers and networks, and the island's gas connections are handled by its own operators¹⁶.

Some network operators run their own identification tools, but these are regional and mainly for electricity. One example covers customers who live in London, the South East and the East of England and are the electricity bill payer, using an online form that emails the supplier name and the Meter Point Administration Number¹⁸. That is an electricity identifier, not a gas one, and it is limited to that network area.

What the lookup cannot do is remove the dependence that remains after it. The household still buys gas from a supplier, still relies on the transporter's pipes, and still depends on the registration database being current. What it does provide is the starting point for acting: the supplier name, the meter point reference and the network that carries the gas, all from one free search or a charged phone call³.