avuru
Meter reading: the dial, then the difference
A meter does not measure consumption. It counts everything that has passed through it since it was put into service and displays that running total: the index. An electricity meter showing 48,213 has let through 48,213 kWh since the day it was installed.
The first reading is therefore a starting point, not a result. The calculation begins with the second: today's index minus the index from last time. Divided by the number of days elapsed, that difference becomes a daily rate, the only figure that lets a month be compared with six weeks.
The unit follows the meter: kilowatt-hours (kWh) for electricity, cubic metres (m³) for water and gas. The price is read in the same unit.
In Luxembourg, the reading that counts for the bill is not yours: according to the ILR's frequently asked questions on electricity, "the agents of the network operators are responsible for reading the meters before your statement is drawn up". Your own readings serve between two statements.
An index is a running total; a consumption is the gap between two indexes, brought back to the day so it can be compared.
Calculate electricity consumption: a worked example
Take an electricity meter read on the first day of each month, at the same time. The price in the example is €0.2665 per kWh including all taxes, the average price paid by Luxembourg households in the second half of 2025 in Eurostat's nrg_pc_204 series, band of 2,500 to 5,000 kWh a year. Your contract shows its own price; the method does not change.
| Reading | Index (kWh) | Used since the previous reading | Days | Per day | Cost at €0.2665/kWh |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 January 2026, 8 am | 48,213 | starting point | |||
| 1 February 2026, 8 am | 48,598 | 385 kWh | 31 | 12.4 kWh | €102.60 |
| 1 March 2026, 8 am | 48,921 | 323 kWh | 28 | 11.5 kWh | €86.08 |
| 1 April 2026, 8 am | 49,207 | 286 kWh | 31 | 9.2 kWh | €76.22 |
| Quarter | 994 kWh | 90 | 11.0 kWh | €264.90 |
Each row is worked out the same way. February: 48,921 minus 48,598 gives 323 kWh; 323 divided by 28 days gives 11.5 kWh a day; 323 multiplied by €0.2665 gives €86.08.
The "per day" column is the one that teaches something. February used 62 kWh less than January, but with three fewer days; brought back to the day, the gap is only 0.9 kWh. March drops for real: 9.2 kWh a day against 12.4 in January. The quarter row checks out both ways: 49,207 minus 48,213 makes 994, the same as the sum of the three periods.
Avuru's "Meters" page does exactly this calculation: a meter with its unit and its price, readings dated to the hour, and for each period the volume used, the daily rate and the cost at the meter's price.
Two indexes, a number of days, a price: the whole calculation fits in those three figures.
Electricity price in Luxembourg per kWh: what the price contains
Twice a year, Eurostat publishes the price of electricity paid by households in each country, for the same consumption band. The table takes the nrg_pc_204 series for the second half of 2025, band DC (2,500 to 5,000 kWh a year), all taxes and levies included.
| Country | Price per kWh, second half of 2025, all taxes included |
|---|---|
| France | €0.2561 |
| Luxembourg | €0.2665 |
| European Union average | €0.2896 |
| Belgium | €0.3499 |
| Germany | €0.3869 |
At 4,000 kWh a year, the gap between Luxembourg and Germany comes to €482; between Luxembourg and France, €42 the other way.
The price is made of layers. According to the ILR's FAQ, the integrated supply price includes "the price of electrical energy" and "the network usage charges", to which are added "the contribution to the compensation mechanism" and "the tax on the consumption of electrical energy", then VAT. Eurostat states in its electricity price statistics that taxes and levies weighed 28.9% of the price paid by European households in the second half of 2025. Luxembourg has a peculiarity there: its price excluding taxes and levies, €0.2834, is higher than its price with them, a trace of the State's intervention on the bill.
That intervention changed form in 2026. The government press release of 2 December 2025 announces that the State covers part of the network charges from 1 January 2026, "for at least three years", automatically. For a typical household at 3,900 kWh a year, it puts the price at "around 25.8 ct€/kWh" instead of "33.9 ct€/kWh", that is €1,006 a year instead of €1,322. The press release of 14 July 2026 adds to it "a subsidy on the price of electricity of 4 cts € including VAT per kWh" from 1 August to 31 December 2026, for residential customers using less than 25,000 kWh a year.
The "difference times price" calculation covers the part of the bill that depends on consumption; the fixed network charges and the instalments paid between two annual statements stay outside it, and a personal reading does not rebuild the bill to the cent.
The price per kWh on a Luxembourg bill adds up energy, network, two levies and VAT, and the State has taken part of it on its own account since January 2026.
A tariff change, a replaced meter, water and gas: the cases that skew the figure
A price that changes in the middle of a period breaks the "difference times price" rule. The 4-cent subsidy of 1 August 2026 is a concrete case: a reading on 15 July at 50,102 kWh, the next on 15 August at 50,412 kWh, so 310 kWh in 31 days, with a price of €0.2665 up to 31 July and €0.2265 after that. The period is cut at 1 August.
| Part of the period | Days | kWh (pro rata by days) | Price | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 July to 31 July | 17 | 170 kWh | €0.2665 | €45.31 |
| 1 August to 15 August | 14 | 140 kWh | €0.2265 | €31.71 |
| Whole period | 31 | 310 kWh | two prices | €77.02 |
Counting everything at the old price would give €82.62, everything at the new one €70.22. The pro rata assumes a steady consumption; a reading taken on the day the price changes replaces that assumption with a measurement.
A replaced meter starts again from zero, or from an index set at the factory. The difference between the last index of the old meter and the first of the new one means nothing: the reading on the day of the replacement closes one series and opens another.
A water meter is read in cubic metres, the fractions after the decimal point often on a red background. An index going from 412.350 to 418.120 in 30 days says 5.77 m³, that is 192 litres a day, at the price per m³ set by the commune.
Some electricity meters show two indexes, peak hours and off-peak hours: each is read and priced at its own rate, and adding the two indexes together before subtracting skews the result.
Gas has a quirk of its own: the meter counts cubic metres, the bill kilowatt-hours. The network operator converts one into the other with a coefficient that depends on the calorific value of the gas delivered, and that coefficient appears on the bill. The ILR's FAQ on natural gas asks for annual consumption "in m3 or kWh", and the compensation of "15 cts € including VAT per cubic metre of gas" in the press release of 14 July 2026 is itself expressed per m³.
One price per period, one meter per series: as soon as either changes, that day's reading becomes a boundary.
Average electricity consumption in Luxembourg: what to compare a reading with
The 994 kWh of the example's first quarter give, over twelve months, an order of magnitude close to 4,000 kWh. In its key figures of the electricity market 2024, published in June 2025, the ILR writes that "the average residential customer paid €202.7/MWh (that is €0.2027/kWh)", which "amounts, for a customer using 4,000 kWh/year, to an annual charge of €811 (€68 a month)". The press release of 2 December 2025 takes a typical household at 3,900 kWh a year. These are calculation references; they measure no particular household.
Heating explains a good share of the gaps. According to Eurostat's statistics on energy consumption in households, space heating accounted for 76.5% of the energy used by Luxembourg households in 2024, and natural gas covered 46.0% of their needs. A household heated with electricity therefore sees its meter carry a load that the neighbour on gas never sees.
The comparison that teaches the most is still that of a reading with the previous one, on the same meter, brought back to the day. A rate that goes from 9 to 12 kWh a day with no change of season points to something in the home.
The ILR's 4,000 kWh place a household; your own readings, brought back to the day, place yours from one month to the next.
Frequently asked questions
How to calculate electricity consumption between two readings?
You subtract the older index from the more recent one: a meter that goes from 48,598 to 48,921 kWh has used 323 kWh, that is 11.5 kWh a day over 28 days. The cost of the period is that consumption multiplied by the price per kWh in your contract.
What is the electricity price per kWh in Luxembourg?
According to Eurostat's nrg_pc_204 series, a Luxembourg household using between 2,500 and 5,000 kWh a year paid €0.2665 per kWh including all taxes in the second half of 2025, against €0.2561 in France, €0.3499 in Belgium and €0.3869 in Germany. For 2026, the government puts the price for a typical household at around 25.8 ct€/kWh, and a subsidy of 4 cts € per kWh applies from 1 August to 31 December 2026.
What is the average electricity consumption of a household in Luxembourg?
In its key figures for 2024, the ILR takes an average residential customer at 4,000 kWh a year, that is €811 a year at €0.2027/kWh; the government uses a typical household at 3,900 kWh. These are calculation references: a home heated with electricity is a long way from them.
How to read a water meter?
A water meter shows an index in cubic metres, the fractions after the decimal point often on a red background. From 412.350 to 418.120 m³, you have used 5.77 m³, that is 5,770 litres, at the price per m³ set by your commune.
Key points
- A meter reading records a cumulative index; the consumption of a period is the difference between two indexes, and the first reading is only a starting point.
- Divided by the number of days, that difference becomes a daily rate, the only figure comparable between periods of different lengths.
- The cost of a period is the consumption multiplied by the price of the unit, €0.2665 per kWh for a Luxembourg household in the second half of 2025 according to Eurostat.
- A price change during a period is handled by cutting the period at the day of the change; a replaced meter opens a new series.
- The ILR places the average residential customer at 4,000 kWh a year, and the State has covered part of the network charges since 1 January 2026.