Business electricity meter installation

Your supplier arranges the meter. A meter operator (MOP) does the physical fit. The distribution network operator (DNO) builds the connection and creates your MPAN. Registration alone takes at least 28 days (UK Power Networks). We sort the supply contract, which is the part that sets your meter date.

We do not do installation work. Anything past the meter is an electrician's job.

New connections, in order

Your DNO handles the new supply. Site assessment, quote, physical connection, and the DNO creates your MPAN (E.ON Next). Some sites sit on an independent network (IDNO) instead. Same steps, different paperwork. Our guide to finding your DNO says which one you are on.

DNOs work to statutory guaranteed standards on how fast a quotation comes back. Miss one and they pay you, per working day.

Energy Networks Association, standards effective April 2024. National Grid Electricity Distribution publishes the same table. That is time to a quote. Time to power on is a different number the standards do not cover.

Then appoint a supplier. Registration comes before the meter installation and takes at least 28 days (UK Power Networks). E.ON Next aims for 15 days from registration to meter fit. Do the contract while the groundworks are still being argued about.

On the day, UK Power Networks lays the cable into your meter box and your supplier's fitter must attend the same day. Two bookings, one date, nobody co-ordinating them.

Pay a DNO for a new connection and the MPAN comes with it. Sites that already have power apply separately, and UK Power Networks aims to reply within 10 working days (MPAN guide).

Who actually installs the meter

Ofgem sets the rules suppliers must follow to install and maintain meters, so the supply contract is the door everything else goes through. The meter operator fits, operates and maintains it, and that contract covers rental as well as maintenance (EDF). Your supplier appoints one, or agrees the one you appoint. Expect to give at least 10 working days' notice to book the fit (UK Power Networks). The bottleneck is not the fitter's van. It is the registration in front of it.

Three-phase and larger supplies

The difference is how much power the supply carries, and UK Power Networks' rule of thumb is that two or more meters means three-phase. Our three-phase guide has the rest.

What it costs

Nobody publishes a national price for the meter fit. Suppliers and MOPs price it inside the contract. The ranges circulating on comparison sites carry no source, so we are not repeating them. E.ON Next says there is no up-front cost for the meter on a business new connection and that the DNO picks it up. That is one supplier's position.

The indicative example from National Grid Electricity Distribution for a three-phase connection up to 69kVA in a footpath in the East Midlands is £1,370 to £2,247 plus VAT (October 2024). Its CPI-adjusted averages for 2020 to 2023 run from £1,506 for batched work in Coventry to £8,845 for single connections in South Wales. Our pricing methodology shows how we check every figure.

Worth knowing before the keys change hands. Ofgem says a customer who moves in and starts using energy without agreeing a contract lands on a deemed one. Those prices average 80% more than a negotiated rate. More on deemed rates.

Already have a working meter? Leave it alone. If your contract is fine, stay put and we will say so. If not, start with how to switch business energy, then business electricity rates. The gas side runs through a transporter rather than a DNO.

All sources checked 10 August 2026.