Electricity and gas

To join Energy Sparks, your school needs to have a meter which is capable of automatically taking half-hourly meter readings. Each reading reports on how much energy was consumed in a 30 minute period. Each day consists of 48 separate readings.

This is known as half-hourly consumption data, and it is this data which Energy Sparks uses to analyse your school’s energy usage. 

This section provides more information about metering of electricity and gas supplies.

There are a number of different types of energy meter. 

Your school needs to have a meter that can share half-hourly consumption data Half-hourly (HH), NHH AMR and SMETS2 meters are capable of sharing half-hourly consumption data. 

It’s worth noting that data provision for HH and NHH AMR meters normally stops when the supplier is switched. When this happens, we have to send a request to the new supplier to restore data access. 

The data provided by SMETS2 meters isn’t interrupted when you switch suppliers, however, this type of meter is typically only fitted on smaller supplies.

See the above section for more details about different types of meter.

Take a look at a recent bill:

If the answer is yes to any of these questions, then your meter should be capable of sharing data with Energy Sparks. If you’re unsure, check with your supplier directly or your Local Authority or procurement organisation (depending on how you purchase your energy.)

You will need to request an upgrade from your supplier, or, if you purchase through your Local Authority or procurement organisation, then the request needs to go through them. 

It is usually free to upgrade your meter but a few suppliers may charge an annual fee to access the data, so it is worth asking about any fees or charges before requesting an upgrade. Most fees are almost always recovered as a result of the savings made when using the Energy Sparks platform. Many schools find that they can recover the cost of accessing the energy data in just a few days of savings. 

In order to set up your school on Energy Sparks, we need to be supplied with your school’s meter details. Energy Sparks uses your meter details as a unique reference number to identify your school’s energy data on our system.

What is an electricity meter number?
Your school’s electricity meter number is known as a Meter Point Administration Number (MPAN.) It is also sometimes known as a ‘supply number’ or ‘S number’. 

MPANs are 13 digits long and they sometimes start with 22 or 11.

What is a gas meter number?
Your school’s gas meter number is known as a Meter Point Reference Number (MPRN.) It is also sometimes known as an ‘M number.’ 

MPRNs are made up of numbers only but they are less than 13 digits long.

What is a Meter Serial Number?
A meter serial number (MSN) is different from a meter number (MPAN and MPRN.) A meter serial number is also known as a Meter ID. The meter serial number refers to the meter itself, whereas, your MPAN and MPRNs refer to the supply. Therefore, if your meter is replaced, the meter serial number will change but your MPAN or MPRN will always stay the same. 

Electricity meter serial numbers are made up of numbers and letters. 

Gas meter serial numbers might be made up of all numbers or a combination of numbers and letters. 

Where can I find out my school’s meter numbers?
To find your electricity and gas meter numbers (MPAN and MPRN,) please look at a recent invoice. 

The electricity meter number is sometimes listed in a box marked ‘Supply number.’ This will start with an ‘S’ and will be 21 digits long. You only need to share the last 13 digits on the bottom row.

The gas meter number is usually listed under the Meter Point Reference Number heading.

What can I do if I’m still having trouble finding my school’s meter numbers?
If you purchase your energy through your Local Authority or via a procurement organisation, please contact them and ask them to share the meter details with you. 

If you purchase directly from your supplier, please contact them to find out your meter details. 

Alternatively, if you have a copy of your school’s recent energy bill, you can share this with Energy Sparks by emailing support@energysparks.uk and we can help you to identify your meter numbers.

Did you know? Energy Sparks also has an activity about understanding energy bills and household energy use for teachers to run with their students. Visit our website to take a look at the resources.

Energy Sparks analyses half-hourly consumption data. How we request access to this data will depend on your supplier, purchasing route and any data contracts in place. 

Energy Sparks can access energy data from all large energy suppliers and most smaller commercial energy suppliers. In some cases, we will access your school’s data via your procurement organisation or an appointed data collector (DC) instead. We can advise you about whether data access is possible once you have informed us of your supplier and purchasing arrangements. 

Half-hourly consumption data needs to be shared in kilowatt hours (kWh) or less commonly in volume (m3 or ft3.) The file must be in a machine-readable format. This means that it must follow a predictable format and it must contain a unique identifier, normally the meter number, so that Energy Sparks can correctly assign the data to your school. 

Most data providers, including many large energy suppliers, can provide the half-hourly consumption data automatically on a daily basis either by:

Some suppliers, currently, cannot share the data automatically, so we aim to receive it from them weekly, either by manual emailed reports or portal downloads.

If possible, we will also request a one-off download of your school’s historic half-hourly consumption data. Having access to your school’s historic half-hourly consumption data enables Energy Sparks to provide more detailed analysis when your school’s account is activated. The amount of historic data that we are able to access will depend on how long you have been with your current energy supplier, how long you have had a half-hourly or smart meter installed, and whether we can obtain data from your previous supplier. If we are unable to access much historic data, the alerts and analysis Energy Sparks can provide will increase as the dataset builds up.

To request access to your data, we need:

For SMETS2 meters, we access the data via a Data Communications Company (DCC) service provider. The DCC service provider needs to receive a copy of a bill rather than a Letter of Authority. If your school has a SMETS2 meter, we will send you a request to upload a copy of an invoice for the supply onto Energy Sparks. This invoice must clearly show the school address and meter number. It must also be less than three months old. 

For more information about consent to access the data, please go to the ‘What permissions does Energy Sparks need?’ section.