Origin’s Metering Charge applies to customers on market and standing electricity contracts in ACT, NSW, QLD, SA, and VIC.
It's important to note: the metering charge is different to the meter works administration fee, which could also be applied to your bill.
Metering charge explained
The metering charge is the cost of the fees we directly incur from Metering Service Providers on your behalf and pass through onto your bill. The charge may be applied when you request a change, removal, or installation of an electricity meter.
Fees vary by Meter Service Provider, state, region, and complexity of the work required and can’t be quoted upfront. It’s not known what the fee amount will be until after the work is completed. More on meter installation, alteration and abolishment fees (PDF 41 KB).
Meter Service Providers may charge additional fees for technicians to perform additional metering work, post meter install services, meter terminations, or where they attend your property but cannot proceed (Wasted Site Visit).
We rely on partnerships with Meter Service Providers to complete metering requests on your behalf. The metering charge is a direct pass-through of fees from a meter provider and we don’t make any money from the charge.
If they charge us, we’ll pass on the fees to you on your bill as a metering charge. Services vary based on your request. A breakdown of services is listed below:
Service category | Fees (incl GST) |
Additional works | Up to $150 per visit |
Post meter install services
Termination charges | Fees vary by Meter Service Provider, state, region, and work required |
The charge is to cover the Meter Service Provider fees that are associated with the safe and compliant change, removal, or installation of an electricity meter following a customer-initiated electricity meter request.
If any fees are incurred from a meter provider for services required to complete your request, we will apply them to your next bill as a metering charge.
Additional works fee
This is incurred where a technician must perform additional works to bring your site up to the correct technical, safety and compliance requirements for the installation, change or removal of an electricity meter.
Metering charges for the total of any of the services below will be capped at $150 (incl GST).
Service type | Description |
After hours surcharge | Where an appointment for the meter exchange is required outside of standard business hours:
|
Certificate of Compliance for electrical work (NSW) | NSW Government regulatory cost for the application and provision of a Certificate of Compliance (or equivalent) as appropriate to the work being carried out during the installation or exchange of a meter. |
CT accuracy testing | Fee covers a technician attending site to test the accuracy of the current transformer (CT) to ensure that it is operating within required specifications, eg. confirming accurate stepdown of current and turns ratio. This work requires an outage at the site to perform safely. |
External load removal | Regulatory requirement for the safety and compliance of the meter setup prior to the install or exchange of an electricity meter. Fee covers the removal and recovery of an external load control device. |
Fault rectification and safety process | Fee covers the attendance of a technician to site to resolve an identified fault in the electricity meter setup and required safety process consideration. |
Fuse derating | Regulatory requirement to derate a meter protection device from 100A to 80A in line with jurisdictional requirements. Fee covers the supply of the replacement fuse cartridge and technician time. |
Fuse installation, relocation, replacement or upgrade | Regulatory requirement for the safety and compliance of the meter setup prior to the install or exchange of an electricity meter. Fee covers the supply, installation/replacement, or relocation of an appropriate meter protection device (fusing). |
Installation or removal of communications or antennas | Fee covers the installation of an antenna, modem and/or mounting bracket to achieve acceptable signal strength for electricity meter telemetry; and where an onsite visit is required for the technician to remove or restore a communications module. |
Link installation, replacement, relocation or upgrade | Regulatory requirement for the safety and compliance of the meter setup prior to the install or exchange of an electricity meter. Fee covers the supply, installation/replacement, or relocation of neutral and active links to enable the install of the electricity meter. |
Meter consolidation (amalgamate NMI) | Modifications of the metering setup to a safer and compliant solution. Fee includes the consolidation of meter combinations, minor extension of wiring (typically single-phase installations) to the customer switchboard beyond the standard installation. Complex modifications for three phase meter installations may also be required. |
Minor works on asbestos panels | Regulatory requirement for the safety and compliance of the meter setup prior to the install or exchange of an electricity meter. Fee covers the double bag and disposal of legacy meter and associated hazard protections in managing the asbestos backing board. |
Single or multi-phase main switch installation | Regulatory requirement for the safety and compliance of the meter setup prior to the install or exchange of an electricity meter. Fee covers the supply and installation of a single or multi-phase main switch on the line side of the meter. |
Supply isolation surcharge | Fee applies where an accredited service provider (ASP) is required to attend site to safely isolate supply for the install or exchange of an electricity meter to proceed. |
Plug-in meter works | Fee applies where plug-in meter bases are to be removed or replaced for the meter installation to be completed and rewired. |
Recovery or removal of abolished metering | Fee applies where an abolished meter must be recovered, including certain asbestos meters, or where a second off-peak meter must be removed. |
Install ripple relay control | Fee covers the supply of a relay from the local distributor, as well as the installation costs associated with an accredited service provider technician to perform the installation. |
Relocation of equipment, make room for metering | Fee covers the relocation of panel equipment to ensure room for the newly installed electricity meter. |
Urgent installation or onsite service request | Fee covers where a technician has been requested to attend site within a timeframe earlier than Meter Service Provider’s business service level agreements and initial schedule. |
Working at heights above 1.8m | Regulatory requirement for the safety and compliance of the meter setup prior to the install or exchange of an electricity meter. Fee covers where work is to be performed above a height of 1.8 metres with all appropriate safety measures in place. |
Zelemite panel fit | Regulatory requirement for the safety and compliance of the meter setup prior to the install or exchange of an electricity meter. Fee covers the provision and attachment of a Zelemite panel to the existing meter board. |
Wasted site visit fee
This is incurred where the technician can’t perform the requested work due to an issue identified at your site. Reasons could include:
no access to the meter
unsafe environment (e.g. asbestos hazard that hasn’t been resolved)
customer meter board or wiring is defective
meter tamper identified
meter is unable to be isolated from shared supply point
last minute customer cancellation
meter board issues
unable to contact customer
customer refusal of the metering work
Metering charges for wasted site visits will be capped at $150.00 (incl GST).
Post meter install services
Metering charges for any of the services below will not be included in the charge cap of $150 (incl GST).
If you contact us to arrange any of these services below, the cost of the service will apply as a metering charge.
Service type | Description |
Meter reconfiguration (onsite) | Fee covers a technician attending site to perform a reconfiguration of an existing meter or change to the meter equipment such as reconfiguring meter memory to suit a tariff or other requirement. |
Meter investigation – inspection (onsite) | Fee covers a technician attending site to inspect an existing meter for reasons such as the customer believing there is a problem with the meter, crossed metering, or a suspected tamper. If there is an issue identified by the technician this fee will be waived by the Meter Provider. |
Meter investigation – inspection (CT metering) | Fee covers a technician attending site to test an existing current transformer (CT) meter to confirm the recording accuracy when requested by a customer. |
Meter investigation – test (onsite) | Fee covers a technician attending site to test an existing meter to confirm the recording accuracy when requested by a customer. |
Site read (onsite) | Fee covers a technician attending site to manually read the energy usage for an electricity meter. |
Reenergisation (onsite) | Fee covers a technician attending site to reenergise an electricity meter. |
Tariff change (onsite) | Fee covers a technician attending site to reconfigure an existing electricity meter for changes to a tariff such as those required to accommodate a solar installation or controlled load. |
Deenergisation / reenergisation (remote) | Fee covers the Meter Service Provider validating and performing a remote energisation change for an electricity meter. |
Meter reconfiguration (remote) | Fee covers the Meter Service Provider validating and performing a remote reconfiguration of an existing meter, such as reconfiguring meter memory to suit a tariff or other requirement. |
Tariff change (remote) | Fee covers the Meter Service Provider validating and performing a remote reconfiguration on an existing electricity meter for changes to a tariff such as those required to accommodate a solar installation or controlled load. |
Meter terminations
A termination charge covers the Meter Service Provider’s fee for the upgrade or removal of an existing smart electricity meter to meet a customer request where the existing meter is no longer suitable for the customer’s site needs.
For example, an upgrade of a 1-phase meter to a 3-phase meter. Fees vary depending on metering at site.
Metering charges for meter terminations will not be included in the charge cap of $150.00 (incl GST).
Is the metering charge the same as the meter works administration fee?
No. The meter works administration fee is an Origin fee to cover the administration costs that are associated with coordinating and processing a customer-initiated electricity meter request.
The metering charge is a pass-through of the costs we directly incur from Meter Service Providers on your behalf.
Both fees may apply when you request a change, removal, or installation of an electricity meter; for example, an alteration to an electricity meter due to a solar installation.
More information
You’ll find the fee listed on our Additional Charges page, or if you'd like to know more, just give us a call.
Residential customers:
13 24 61 (Mon to Fri, 7am–7pm AEST)
Small business customers:
1300 661 544 (Mon to Fri, 8am–6pm AEST)