How to Read a Gas Meter: Dial, Digital and Imperial Meters

Most gas meters in Britain are metric. They show the reading in cubic metres (m³) and have five numbers to write down, read from left to right, including any leading zeros¹. Anything after the decimal point, usually printed in red or on a red background, is ignored². Older imperial meters measure in cubic feet (ft³) and have four numbers to record, again ignoring the red digits that follow¹.

A dial meter is different again. A gas dial meter has four or more small dials, each with a pointer that travels round a face numbered 0 to 9³. Only the first four dials from the left are read; large dials and red dials are ignored³. Where a pointer sits between two numbers, the lower number is recorded, which is the number the pointer has just gone past⁴. Where a pointer sits directly over a number, the dial to its right decides: if that next dial reads 9, the number is reduced by one³.

On a gas smart meter, the screen shows the word VOLUME or METER INDEX followed by a number and M3⁴. Reaching that display means pressing a button, and which button depends on the meter: 9 on a keypad model, A on a model with A and B buttons, the orange button on a model with orange and blue arrows⁶.

Why reading your own meter still matters

A meter reading is the only number that ties a household's actual gas use to the money it is billed. A supplier needs regular readings from a gas or electricity meter to work out bills, and will estimate usage where no readings are sent³. An estimate is a guess built on past consumption, and it can run high or low for months before a real reading corrects it.

A smart meter is supposed to remove the chore. It automatically sends gas and electricity readings to the supplier, so bills should be more accurate and manual submissions are not required⁸. In practice there are still occasions when a reading has to be taken by hand: when switching supplier, when checking usage, or when resolving an account issue⁶. Some older smart meters cannot send automatic readings after a switch of supplier⁴. Where first-generation meters have lost their smart function, households should be able to provide readings manually instead.

There is also a practical point about what a reading is for. A meter reading is the only direct record a household holds of the gas it has actually taken from the network, and it is the figure against which an estimated bill can be checked. Where a smart meter's readings stop arriving, whether through the meter, the screen or the supplier's systems, a manual reading remains the fallback.

Two moments make a manual reading close to essential. When a supplier goes out of business, Ofgem advises taking a meter reading as soon as possible and keeping a record of it, so the new supplier bills correctly¹⁰. And where a meter's accuracy is disputed and an independent test is arranged, it is best to note the meter reading and serial number on the day of the visit¹¹. The serial number is printed on the meter itself and is what identifies it in any dispute.

For independence, the point is blunt: knowing how to read the meter is the one part of the billing chain a household controls without a supplier, an app or a network connection. Everything else, the data flow, the tariff, the bill, depends on somebody else's system working.

Digital metric meters: the five digits to write down

A digital metric gas meter has an electronic or digital display showing five numbers, then a decimal point, followed by some more numbers³. The unit is cubic metres, and the meter usually shows "m" or "m³" somewhere on the faceplate¹².

The method is short:

1. Read the five numbers from left to right, including any zeros at the start².
2. Stop at the decimal point. Do not include the numbers after it, which are often shown in red².
3. Note the date the reading was taken.

Those trailing digits are fractions of a cubic metre. Including them by mistake inflates a reading by thousands of units and is one of the commonest causes of a wildly wrong bill. Some guidance simplifies the rule to "the first four or five numbers" on a gas meter, which covers both metric and imperial faces⁵.

Because the reading is in cubic metres and the bill is in kilowatt hours, the supplier applies a conversion before charging. That step is covered separately in converting gas meter units to kWh.

Digital imperial meters

A digital imperial meter has an electronic or digital display showing four black or white numbers followed by two numbers in red³. Write down the first four numbers from left to right and ignore the rest shown in red³. The unit of measurement is cubic feet². Imperial meters are older stock, and their units are converted to kilowatt hours using a different multiplier from metric ones, so the meter's unit matters as much as the digits.

Dial meters: reading the four main dials

Dial meters, sometimes called clock-type meters, are the hardest to read correctly and the easiest to get a unit out. A gas dial meter has four or more dials side by side, each turning to point to a number between 0 and 9³. Only the first four are part of the reading; dials without numbers or hands are disregarded, as are large dials and any dial marked in red³.

Start with the dial on the left and work right. Write down the number that the pointer has just gone past⁴. Where a pointer sits between two numbers, that means the lower of the two, and where a dial appears to sit between 9 and 0, the number recorded is 9³. Adjacent dials turn in opposite directions on many meters, which is why the position of the pointer, rather than any assumption about direction, decides the digit.

The correction rule is what catches people out. Where a pointer sits directly over a number, underline that number and then check the dial immediately to its right: if that next dial reads 9, reduce the underlined number by one³. A worked example from the Centre for Sustainable Energy gives a full dial reading of 7120⁴. Age UK puts the general rule simply: note the numbers each dial is pointing towards, but ignore any red numbers¹³.

A gas dial meter carries four digits where an electricity dial meter carries five¹⁵. Where a gas reading comes out as four or five numbers, red numbers are excluded from the count in either case⁴. The borderline case of a pointer hovering on the join between 9 and 0 is covered in more detail in what to do when a gas meter dial is between 9 and 0.

Smart meters: getting a reading from the screen

A smart meter records gas use and sends readings to the supplier automatically, so the display is usually consulted only to confirm a figure⁸. Most gas smart meters in Great Britain show the reading as numbers followed by "m3"⁶. The key discipline is the same as on a digital meter: record only the numbers before the decimal point, ignoring leading zeros where the meter shows them⁶.

What varies is the button. Smart Energy GB sets out a route for each common faceplate⁶:

All citations for that table:⁶.

A gas smart meter's screen is battery-driven and normally blank, which is why a button press is needed at all. The screen will flash or show VOLUME or METER INDEX, then a number followed by M3⁴. Smart meters also have an in-home display that shows gas and electricity use in near real time, though the meter face, not the display, carries the figure a supplier needs¹⁷.

One recurring problem is physical rather than technical. The Energy Ombudsman has published a case in which, because of the position of the meter screen on a newly installed gas meter, the consumer was unable to check the reading at all¹⁸. Moving a gas meter is not a household job: attempting it is illegal and very dangerous¹⁹. The route is a complaint to the supplier, covered in how to get a meter moved, exchanged or removed and how to complain about an energy supplier.

A gas smart meter shows its reading on a screen rather than on a mechanical dial: the display flashes or shows the word VOLUME or METER INDEX, followed by a number and M3¹⁶. On meters with A and B buttons, pressing button A until the screen shows 'Meter Index' and waiting a few seconds brings up the reading in metres cubed²⁰. Only the digits before the decimal point should be recorded²¹. A smart meter therefore adds visibility but also a dependence: the readings go automatically to the supplier, and the household relies on the supplier's systems to receive and use them correctly¹⁸.

Gas safety around the meter: what to watch for

Reading the meter puts a householder in front of the gas installation several times a year, which makes it the natural moment to look at the meter and the appliances around it.

The Health and Safety Executive strongly advises that all gas appliances, flues and pipework are installed, regularly maintained and serviced at least annually by a Gas Safe registered engineer¹⁵. Cadent's advice is the same, and adds installing and regularly testing a carbon monoxide alarm, checking flues and sweeping chimneys every year²¹. About 14 people a year die from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by gas appliances and flues that have not been properly installed or maintained²².

Warning signs on an appliance:

• Lazy yellow or orange flames where the flame should be crisp and blue, except on fuel-effect fires which show that colour by design²²
• Black marks, soot or staining on or around the appliance²³
• A pilot light that keeps going out or blowing out²¹
• Too much condensation in the room²³

The meter itself should look untouched. Cadent lists signs of gas theft to look for when examining a meter: a meter turned around, a meter bypassed or bridged, a substitute meter, a smell of gas, dials not moving or a display that has disappeared, rubber or hose piping, evidence of poor workmanship, pipework installed by an unregistered person, gas still working without credit, or no meter present at all²⁴. Every gas appliance must have, at its inlet, a means of shutting off the gas supply unless that is not reasonably practicable²⁵.

Two related points. Poorly maintained, badly installed or faulty gas appliances can cause gas leaks, fire, explosions and carbon monoxide poisoning, and only a Gas Safe registered engineer should fit, fix or check them²⁶; how to verify registration is set out in checking an engineer is Gas Safe registered. And where a smart gas meter is installed, the installer also performs a visual safety check on the gas appliances as part of the installation, typically a visual inspection of the boiler and other appliances, final meter readings, a gas supply check with pilot lights relit, and a plug socket test²⁷.

Rented homes

Landlords carry a separate duty. A gas safety check must be done every year on each gas appliance and flue the landlord owns, carried out within 12 months by a Gas Safe registered engineer²⁸. The same 12-month interval applies to LPG appliances owned and provided by the landlord¹⁵. Tenants are not covered for appliances they own themselves: those should be safety checked once a year by a Gas Safe registered engineer arranged by the tenant²³. Guidance in Northern Ireland states the same 12-month check interval for a tenant's own appliances²⁹. Who arranges a boiler service if you rent covers the split in more detail.

When to take a reading and what to do with it

A monthly reading is the working standard. Uswitch suggests submitting a reading at least once a month and ideally on the same day of the month, the first for example, so each bill covers a comparable period⁷. That regularity matters more than the exact date: readings taken at uneven intervals make consumption look erratic and are harder to check against a bill.

There is a floor in regulation for one case: where a supplier is recovering ongoing gas consumption through a prepayment arrangement, it must make reasonable endeavours to obtain gas meter readings at least every six months³⁰.

Moments that call for a reading whatever the routine:

• The day a supplier goes out of business, recorded and kept so the new supplier bills correctly¹⁰
• On moving into or out of a property, covered in do I need to take meter readings when moving home
• When switching supplier, set out in how to switch energy supplier
• On the day an independent meter accuracy test is carried out, alongside the serial number¹¹
• Where a bill looks wrong, before raising it, as in how to report a faulty or inaccurate meter

Submitting the reading follows the same process for gas as for electricity⁷. The practical steps are covered in how to submit meter readings to a supplier, and the reading itself is explained on the bill, alongside the conversion from meter units to kilowatt hours.

Where a reading cannot be taken

Where a consumer is unable to read the meter because of age, disability or terminal or chronic illness, the supplier can arrange to read the meter on their behalf, free of charge, at least once every three months³¹. That provision is set out for Northern Ireland consumers in the Utility Regulator's code of practice for consumers in vulnerable circumstances³¹. Priority Services Register support in Great Britain runs on similar lines: E.ON Next lists quarterly meter readings as a minimum and annual gas safety checks among the services offered to registered customers¹⁷. Smart meters can also be paired with an accessible in-home display where sight loss makes a meter face unreadable¹⁷.

What reading a meter does, and does not, do for independence

A meter reading is a check on a supplier, not a substitute for one. Taking it yourself means the bill can be verified against a number you have seen with your own eyes, that a supplier's estimate can be challenged with evidence, and that a change of supplier or a supplier failure does not leave the account resting on someone else's guess¹⁰.

The dependence that remains is complete on the gas side. The meter measures gas arriving from the network; nothing about reading it reduces the volume used or the exposure to the price. The meter is the property of the network and supply chain, not the household: moving it is illegal for a householder to attempt¹⁹, and the appliances behind it may lawfully be worked on only by a Gas Safe registered engineer²⁶, who must also fit them, as the law requires²⁷. A smart meter adds a further layer of dependence, on the supplier's systems that receive the automatic readings¹⁸, and on a screen that is readable from where the meter happens to sit.

What a household does control is the frequency and accuracy of the record it keeps. That, and the annual safety check, are the two habits the meter cupboard rewards. Broader steps are set out in the home energy how-to guide and in taking more control of your home's energy.