How to Read Your Meter to Track Plug-In Solar Savings

A step-by-step guide to reading your smart meter or traditional meter to verify how much your plug-in solar is saving.

Why Meter Readings Matter

Your inverter app shows how much electricity your panels generate. But to verify actual savings, you need to compare your electricity imports before and after installing solar.

Smart Meter Users

If you have a smart meter:

In-Home Display (IHD)

Your IHD shows real-time import/export and daily totals. Watch the import rate drop during sunny hours — that's your solar at work.

Supplier App

Most suppliers (Octopus, British Gas, OVO, E.ON) offer apps with half-hourly consumption data. Compare your pre-solar and post-solar daily consumption patterns.

Monthly Bills

The clearest comparison: your monthly electricity cost before vs after solar. Account for seasonal variation — compare the same month year-on-year.

Traditional Meter Users

Take Regular Readings

Note your meter reading on the day you install solar
Read monthly at the same time
Track kWh imported per month
Compare to the same month in previous years

Calculate Savings

Monthly saving = (Previous year's monthly kWh - Current monthly kWh) × tariff rate

Example: If you used 250 kWh in October 2025 and 180 kWh in October 2026, your solar saved 70 kWh = £17.15 at 24.5p/kWh.

Cross-Checking with Your Inverter

Compare inverter generation data with meter import reductions:

Source	Shows
Inverter/app	Total generation (kWh)
Meter	Import reduction (kWh)
Difference	Export (kWh)

If your inverter shows 80 kWh generated but your imports only dropped by 50 kWh, you exported about 30 kWh.

Can my smart meter show solar generation?

Some SMETS2 meters can show generation and export, but configuration varies by supplier. See our smart meter solar guide.

What if my meter shows I'm exporting?

That means your solar is generating more than you're using — the excess flows back to the grid. Maximise self-consumption to reduce exports.