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A half-hourly meter is essential for any UK business with peak loads of more than 100,000 kWh a year. Generally, half-hour electricity tariffs are intended to make readings more accurate for businesses, automatically recording energy consumption every half hour. This eliminates both the task and potential for error that come with regular manual readings.    This blog was put together to demystify the nature of half-hourly electricity suppliers and meter readings, so you can get a better understanding of what these readings might tangibly mean for your business during the Energy Crisis and beyond.   Are half-hourly meter readings more expensive? In short, no. Half-hourly electricity tariffs do not intrinsically increase energy supply costs – this is a major oversimplification of the system. The reality is that costs can be increased and decreased across multiple data points.    Increased costs 1. Standing charges The half-hourly meter standing charge is going to be a new cost for businesses that have recently had the meter installed. Half-hourly meters have a higher degree of technological infrastructure and data processing power, resulting in higher standing charges compared to traditional smart meters.    2. Capacity charges This is something that isn’t necessarily caused by a half-hourly meter – rather a result that comes alongside its arrival at the workplace. Once you consume enough energy to necessitate one of these meters, you’ll likely have to pay a fee to your Distribution Network Operator (DNO). This fee ensures you can consistently meet demand based on your Maximum Import Capacity.   3. Operating costs Operating a half-hourly meter involves additional expenses. Installation, maintenance and data transmission services contribute to the overall cost.     Decreased costs  1. Better unit rates Businesses utilising half-hourly meters often benefit from lower costs per kWh. Larger businesses typically receive better rates, leading to significant savings.   2. Accurate billing The increased accuracy from half-hourly meters provides precise usage data, meant to eliminate estimated bills, which can often be inflated. Even if your energy supplier provides fixed wholesale rates, the accuracy of your half-hourly meter should make these rates closer to reality, and easier to manage in the long term.    3. Tariff flexibility Using a half-hourly system can allow businesses to utilise alternative, complex or more specific tariff structures. For example, there might be off-peak hour options, which could save them significant amounts of money.    Embracing Half-Hourly Meters All in all, half-hourly meters are generally associated with businesses that will be spending more on energy in general. Yes, there are a few additional costs. However, the increased accuracy of data collection should in turn result in better energy management – at the very least, creating a more realistic picture of bills and tariffs. It’s not necessarily going to raise or lower your costs – it’s going to create a newer, transparent structure within them.  For more insights into business energy supply, half-hourly meters and half-hourly prices, don’t hesitate to visit our website today. Ready to make the switch to a half-hourly electricity tariff? Contact our experts for a quick quote!

Half-hourly electricity meters are most often used by larger businesses and corporations, particularly by those who use a large amount of energy. They are designed to provide more accurate bills helping to reduce the risk of businesses spending too much on energy without realising.   What is a half-hourly electricity meter  Using automatic meter reading technology a half-hourly electricity meter will provide automatic readings every half hour. As this is done automatically and is reported to your electricity supplier using a mobile signal or phone line, your bills no longer need to be estimated. Meaning, that as a business you will not have to take your own meter readings, nor will you experience over-estimated bills that require overspending on your electricity. In fact, not only are half-hourly meters preferred by UK businesses, they are typically installed as a mandatory requirement for UK businesses with peak loads of more than 100,000 kWh of electricity per year.   The advantages of a half-hourly electricity meter  There are plenty of benefits that come with opting for half-hourly electricity meters. For businesses looking to save on their energy bills, this is the preferred option. Not only do these meters ensure you do not overspend and you avoid estimated energy bills, but they also help you to better understand your energy consumption. Allowing you to review your company’s energy usage and reduce this where possible. For larger companies looking to improve their carbon footprint, half-hourly meter readings will allow you to take the first steps in reducing your carbon emissions. Setting goals and seeing a visible reduction in the amount of energy you use will be easy with the data provided by a half-hourly meter. Other advantages of using a half-hourly meter for your business energy include, being able to predict your energy usage and experience more tailored tariffs from your energy supplier.   Save your energy bills At D-ENERGi, we offer half-hourly meters to businesses across the UK. We currently supply hundreds of half-hourly meters to sites up and down the country. With customers benefiting from more accurate energy bills, data to review their energy usage, and significant saving on their energy bills. With our experience working with UK businesses and supplying business energy to a wide range of businesses, we are well equipped to deal with a vast array of customer requirements. This includes increasing your capacity or helping you with Meter Operator Agreements. At D-ENERGi, all our energy business customers get their own dedicated account manager. They are able to help you with any requirements or enquiries promptly and provide the best half-hourly electricity prices for you. We ensure that all calls will be answered within five rings or less. Get a quick quote from our friendly team and start saving your energy costs today.

Essentially, any UK business with peak loads of more than 100,000kWh of electricity per year will typically have an half hourly (HH) meter installed. Half hourly meters can also be referred to as 00 meters. HH record data from consumption every 30 minutes – this information is communicated to the energy supplier. We will break down half hourly meters as best we can to hopefully ease your mind. Half hourly meters can be found everywhere   Ranging from call centres, manufacturing sites, supermarkets all the way to sites which consume as much as places like Manchester Airport, half hourly meters can be found everywhere! Over 160,000 sites are affected by this so it is definitely worth checking if you are part of this large number, further explanation on finding out how can be found below. If your site requires a HH it is vital you have a Meter Operator (MOP). MOP is an organisation in the energy industry who hold the responsibility for installing and maintaining electricity and gas meters. They also provide the technical meter details to the Data Collector to enable collection of consumption data. A HH Data Collector is in charge of collecting HH consumption data from the meter. The data is then certified and passed to the supplier for billing. HH meters allow you to understand your consumption and provides you with a reliable source of information for your businesses energy management. What more could you ask for? HH meters can be a great way to save your business money. Finding out if you have a HH meter is easy All you have to do is check the number next to your supply number marked ‘S’ – if the number reads 00 then you have a half-hourly meter.   Pricing for HH can vary. The following charges may appear on your bill if you have a HH Meter: Energy Charges: We offer fixed price contract means you know precisely how much you will pay every month and can budget accordingly. Once you are on a HH meter, you should never receive an estimated bill. This is measured in kWh. Capacity Charges: this charge relates to the Available Capacity for your site. The Average Capacity is the demand for your site which is agreed with the Distribution Network Operator (DNO) and they ensure this is available to you. Reactive Power Charge: this is the difference between the working power and the total power consumed. If a site has a high reactive power, more current has to flow to provide the same output. This means more capacity has to be provided, potentially increasing costs for DNO.   Our dedicated Account Manager will get to know and understand your business, we will provide you with tailormade solutions and any information that can save your energy bills. If you would like to know more about half hourly meters, please visit here. Switch and save with D-ENERGi, get your free quote today.

Half hourly metering (or HH metering) is a type of electricity meter that measures how much electricity is being used every half an hour. It then sends an automatic reading to your business electricity supplier via a phone connection. It is a bit like a domestic smart meter, it just uses older technology. With half hourly metering, your meter is automatically read, and so there is no need for you to remember to send your meter reading to your supplier – enabling more accurate electricity bills to be delivered to you. Half hourly meters also allow businesses to see exactly how much electricity they are using at different times of the day, helping them to become more energy-efficient and utilise them half hourly electricity tariffs to their best advantage. Half hourly meters also allow suppliers to correctly price the energy they are supplying as they will know how much energy is being used. This is the opposite of non half hourly meters which use generic load profiles to guess what demand will be. What kind of businesses use half hourly metering? You may be surprised to learn that there are around 100,000 half hourly meters in the UK – usually in businesses that have high energy usage. Half hourly meters are actually mandatory for all business electricity customers who have a maximum demand of 100 kW or more in any single half-hour period – and these are known as mandatory half hourly meters. Any business that has a maximum demand of more than 70kW can opt to have a half hourly electricity meter installed. Is half hourly metering different from standard meter prices? Yes, it is. Although the major benefit of a half hourly meter is that the accuracy of your pricing will improve dramatically, the actual cost of the metering is much more expensive than a non half hourly meter. However, this cost difference will be largely insignificant to the heavy commercial users of electricity that half hourly meters are aimed at, but it does make them unsuitable for businesses with low or medium electricity consumption. Can I switch to a half hourly electricity tariff? You can, but half hourly electricity contract negotiations can be complex and lengthy, due to the fluctuating wholesale market prices for energy, variable supplier hedging strategies, and the requirement for detailed demand data before you begin. If you would like to understand more about commercial half hourly electricity and get a half hourly electricity quote then call the D-ENERGi team – they would love to hear from you.

A half hourly electricity meter is a special meter that relies on Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) technology to provide businesses and energy suppliers with more accurate electricity readings. The system utilises a fixed line that sends updated meter readings from the business to the energy supplier every half hour. This means that half hourly electricity tariffs tend to be cheaper as billing is more accurate thanks to the fully automated remote reading of the meter on a regular basis, so there is no need for estimation. The other benefit half hourly electricity brings to businesses, is that business owners can request their consumption data from their energy supplier. By using this to review their energy usage throughout the day, they can work towards operating more efficiently by reducing their operational energy usage overall. Does my business need a half hourly electricity meter? Half hourly electricity meters are compulsory for businesses who use 100kw of electricity or more. If your business has usage of 70kw of electricity or more than you can request to have a half hourly meter fitted by your business electricity supplier. If you have recently moved to new business premises and want to find out if the premises have a half hourly meter fitted already it is easy to discover this. Just check the last energy bill sent by the supplier – if it contains a number starting with 00 in the top left then there is already a half hourly meter fitted. How does half hourly electricity billing differ from regular billing? Thanks to the fact that your energy supplier will be getting regular meter readings from your premises, you should find that your half hourly electricity bill is better tailored to your requirements and usage. This is because your usage data is much more accurate and so it eliminates the need for estimated bills, which is what usually happens when there isn’t a half hourly electricity meter installed. P272 Mandatory Half Hourly Meter Changes From April 2017, all businesses who are supplied as 05, 06, 07, or 08 class and who have an advanced meter capable of recording half hourly consumption data are no longer settled against a Non-Half Hourly read, instead, they are settled using a Half Hourly read using Half Hourly data. These changes were introduced as part of an OFGEM-backed revision named P272 which requires all of the aforementioned meters to switch via a Change of Management Class (COMC) to a half hourly meter. We have this article has helped you understand a little more about half hourly electricity and how it can benefit businesses. If you would like your own half hourly electricity quote then please get in touch with the D-ENERGi team.

Here at D-ENERGi we often get asked about half hourly electricity and metering – how it works and how it can affect our customer’s bills. So, we have pulled together this handy guide to help you understand more about it and how it could be exactly what your business needs. What is a half-hourly electricity meter? A half-hourly electricity meter is a special type of meter provided by half hourly electricity suppliers. It is based on AMR (automatic meter reading) technology which is used to provide suppliers with a more accurate electricity reading – which is sent via a fixed-line every half an hour (which is where the name comes from). The benefit of hour hourly readings for business owners is that the meter reading is automated, so you don’t have to mess around sending meter readings to your supplier – and you also access much more accurate bills as well. Another benefit hour hourly electricity brings is it allows you to easily access consumption data from your supplier – meaning you can preview exactly how your business is using electricity throughout the day, helping you to make more informed decisions about how to run your business more efficiently by reducing your operational energy use. Does my business need a half-hour electricity meter? Having a half-hourly electricity meter is compulsory for any business that uses over 100kW of electricity, but if your business uses 70kW of energy or more you can opt to have a meter installed. If you have recently moved to new business premises and are not sure whether you have a half-hourly meter or not, the easiest way to check is to look at your most recent energy bill. The bill will contain a number starting with ‘S’ and if the number following this starts with 00 then you do have a half-hourly meter installed. How does half-hourly electricity pricing differ? Half hourly electricity offers you the energy that is better tailored to your usage and your requirements as it relies on regular meter readings meaning the data gathered is much more accurate –removing the need for estimated billing. We hope this article has given you a better idea of half hourly electricity prices and how half-hourly electricity can benefit small businesses. If you have any questions about anything, please contact our customer service team at 0800 781 7626 – they are always happy to help.