Do I need to take meter readings when moving home?

The reason it matters is simple. If you do not send any readings, your supplier will have to estimate how much energy you used, and an estimate could leave you charged more than the amount you actually used¹. The closing reading at your old home also sets the starting point for whoever moves in after you, and the opening reading at your new home sets the starting point for your own bills there. A wrong figure at either end follows you onto a bill weeks later, when the evidence is harder to reconstruct. Guidance on understanding energy bills is blunt about the habit: when you move, always take final meter readings from the previous property and contact your previous supplier to close the account².

Why the reading on moving day matters

The meter is the only neutral record of where one household's use ends and the next one's begins. Suppliers do not bill by ownership or by the date on a deed; they bill by the reading attached to a date. That is why the same rule appears across every part of the energy market: part of switching supplier includes taking a meter reading on the day of the switch⁷, and the same logic applies to moving home, where two accounts change hands at once instead of one.

Without your reading, the estimate that fills the gap is built from the property's past use, not yours. If the previous occupants of your new home heated four bedrooms and you heat two, an estimated opening figure can start you off on the wrong footing; if the people moving into your old home leave the heating on while you are still the registered account holder, their use can end up on your bill. A dated reading, taken by you on the day, is the one thing that cannot be argued away later.

Details to note down before moving out

On the day you leave the old property, take the final reading from every meter: electricity first, then gas, and any second or restricted meters the property has. Some homes have more than one electricity meter, for example one recording general household use and another recording a separate circuit, and each has its own reading and serial number. Note the date alongside each figure.

Then photograph each meter. The advice given to new residents applies equally to those leaving: take a photo of the meter, showing the digits and the serial number, and keep it until the final bill is settled³. A photo settles two arguments at once, what the reading was and when it was taken.

If the property has a smart meter with an in-home display, leave the display behind. It is connected to that property's smart meter, not to you, and it belongs with the home⁸. The meter itself stays too; only the numbers leave with you.

Meter details to capture on arrival

At the new property, the job is the mirror image: read every meter on the day you move in, photograph each one, and note the date. In a house, meters are commonly found in the basement, loft, garage or outside in a mounted box⁹, so finding them may take a few minutes on a first walk-round. If you cannot find a meter at all, that is a question to resolve before the first bill, not after.

The steps for setting up in a new home are consistent across the guidance: find out who the energy supplier is, contact them to say you have moved in, and submit your meter readings, taking pictures for evidence⁹. If the property is supplied through a business energy contract, which happens in some flats and managed developments, check before or as you move who holds the contract, how charges are calculated, whether they are metered or estimated, and whether you can choose your supplier or switch to a domestic contract¹⁰. Homes on metered LPG estates follow the same pattern: notify the LPG supplier as soon as possible that you are the property's new occupant¹¹.

Telling your supplier and the new occupier

Two suppliers, and ideally one other household, need to hear from you.

1. Your old supplier, with the final reading and your forwarding details, so the account at the old property can be closed².
2. The supplier at the new property, with your opening reading, so the account can be registered in your name from the right figure⁹.
3. The new occupier of your old home, if you can pass the message on, so their opening reading matches your closing one. A mismatch between the two is the most common cause of a disputed bill.

If you rent, bear in mind that the meter may form part of the tenancy agreement, so any question about meters, their location or their condition is one to raise with the landlord as well as the supplier⁸. And if you suspect a problem with a meter at either end, your supplier is expected to promptly investigate it, either themselves or with third parties, and keep you informed¹².

Moving house with a smart meter

A smart meter automatically sends your electricity and gas readings to your supplier, so in normal times you do not need to submit readings yourself⁴. Official guidance confirms the same: readings are sent automatically by the smart meter to the energy supplier¹², and they typically go at least once a month¹³.

A move is not normal times. Independent guidance lists the situations where a manual reading is still needed even with a smart meter, and moving is one of them, alongside switching supplier and any period when the supplier cannot take automated reads⁵. The reason is that the smart function depends on the supplier's systems. If your supplier goes out of business and you are moved to a new one, your meter may not work in smart mode with the new supplier, and you may need to take readings manually and submit them instead¹⁴. The same caution applies to any switch you make yourself: you can switch suppliers if you have a smart meter, but the new supplier might not offer all the smart services, such as remote meter readings, and the meter may need replacing¹⁵.

So on moving day, read a smart meter exactly as you would a dumb one. If it is still sending readings automatically, nothing is lost; if it is not, you have the figure the new account needs.

Dealing with disputed readings

Disputes usually look like this: a bill arrives with more use on it than the dates of your occupancy can explain, or an estimated figure has been used where a real one should have been. The Energy Ombudsman's billing case files show how these are resolved, and they turn on evidence. In one disputed case, a meter had been exchanged around six and a half months before the bill, with an installation reading of 00000, and the consumer's own online reading of 00056, provided three months later, became the figure that settled what the account actually owed¹⁶. The lesson is that a reading you took and submitted beats an estimate you never saw.

If the dispute is about access rather than figures, it may be possible to have your gas or electricity meter moved if you are finding it difficult to read or access it, or if you are doing building work¹⁷. That is a job for the supplier and the network, not for you: it is illegal to move the meter yourself, so contact your supplier in the first instance and they may be able to help⁶. For the full process, see moving or replacing a meter, and for the mechanics of reading each type, start with how to take a meter reading.

For a household working towards energy independence, the meter reading is a small habit with an outsized effect: it is the point at which you hold the record, rather than relying on a supplier's estimate of your life. The meter measures; the reading is what makes the measurement yours.