Explainer
Your MPAN, or Meter Point Administration Number, is the unique reference for your electricity supply. Here is what each part of the 21 digit number means, where to find it and why suppliers and network operators depend on it.
By Christopher Fagan, Managing Partner, PEF Consulting Partners
MPAN stands for Meter Point Administration Number. It identifies a point of connection to the electricity network, not the meter itself, so it stays the same when the meter is replaced or the property changes supplier. Gas supplies have their own equivalent, the MPRN, or meter point reference number.
It is printed on your electricity bill, usually as a box of numbers starting with an S, and is often shown in your online account too. If you cannot find it, your supplier can give it to you. If you do not know who your supplier is, the Energy Networks Association postcode search will tell you your network operator, which can tell you.
The full MPAN has 21 digits over two lines.
The bottom line, the last 13 digits, is the core MPAN. It is the part that does not change, and the part to quote when someone asks for your MPAN.
Every industry process for an electricity supply runs on the MPAN: switching supplier, registering and appointing meter agents, calculating network charges and settling the energy used. A wrong MPAN on an account is one of the classic causes of billing errors and settlement problems, because the data for one supply ends up attached to another. Our guide to energy billing covers how that happens, and our billing integrity work fixes it.
Market wide half hourly settlement keeps the MPAN but changes much of the data around it. Every MPAN is being migrated onto the new settlement arrangements by 7 May 2027, and each is placed in a market segment, smart, advanced or unmetered, which decides how its half hourly data is collected.
Suppliers, network operators and accredited third parties look up MPAN details through the Electricity Enquiry Service, still widely known as ECOES. Our guide to what ECOES is explains what it holds and who can use it.
The 21 digit Meter Point Administration Number that identifies an electricity supply point in Great Britain. The last 13 digits are the core MPAN.
No. The meter serial number identifies the physical meter. The MPAN identifies the supply point and stays the same if the meter is changed.
The MPAN identifies an electricity supply and the MPRN identifies a gas supply.
No. The core MPAN stays with the property. The top line can change if the supply arrangements change, such as a new meter type or tariff structure.
Related reading: what is ECOES?, half hourly meters explained, AMR vs smart meters, the Irish MPRN explained.
If MPAN and meter data problems are showing up as billing errors or settlement losses, we can trace them to source and fix the controls.