Understanding German electricity meter terminology

We have just been asked (we think!) to submit our electricity usage figures for our new home. Our local electricity provider has asked us to fill out and a return a card which reads:

Zaehlerstand:
ET/HT
NT
and then repeats ET/HT & NT two more times.

Can someone please explain what these abbreviations mean and why we have to provide three sets of number?
Thanks in advance

ET: Eintarif - (only one price?)
HT: Hochtarif
NT: Niedertarif (Schwachlasttarif)

Thats all I could figure out, with the help of google. I have no idea what exactly it means... I would expect you could find this abbreviations on your electric meter.

You should have three meters to read.

The top one will be the ET. This is the total amount of usage.
The next two will be the HT and the NT. Your total usage is divided into day and night usage. HT is day and NT is night. Night usage used to be a hell of a lot cheaper, but not so much anymore.

It's also worth saying that if you're on a split day/night (HT/NT) tarif then the daytime electricity is more expensive than the standard single tarif, although night time is cheaper. Everyone in our building is on a split tarif and a quick look over the meters shows nobody gets benefit from this as every meter showed most electricity was daytime tarif despite having hot water tanks heated with electricity at night. You really must switch everything (washing machines, dishwashers, water heating, etc.) to night time use to get any benefit. SWM advised us to go back to a single tarif which is what we did.

Edit: You may only have one meter so you need only one set of figures. Some flats may have a separate meter in the cellar & washroom but not all.

If you have electric heating you will have two meters,

1. the normal electricity for lighting etc. This will have one dial with one number made up of 5, 6 or 7 digits.
This is ET or Einheitstarif. (Standard tariff)

2. the heating elactric meter. This has two dials with two numbers made up of ... see above. These two numbers are Hochtarif (HT) and Nachttarif (NT). Nachttarif (Night tariff) is only relevant with old systems which divide the tariffs according to a (mostly electrically driven ) timer. Modern systems only draw electricity when the grid usage is low, contolled by an electronic signal from the power company. NT is a reduced rate tariff. You want ALL of your heating electricity to run over the NT. A very common, and expensive error with old systems with an electrically driven timer is that people don't reset them after a power failure. Your system may then draw electricity during the expensive period. Heartache !

On the meter you should note the "Zähler-Nummer", usually in the form 123456-123456, along with your meter readings. This helps to make sure that the right reading gets to the right account.

If you don't have electric heating you will only have one meter, unless for any other reason the circuits have been split.
If you wish I have a .123 file (.xls for the MS lot) with all of the gen in to be able to do your own calcs. You need only the starting reading and a copy of your contract for the fixed costs. These are also available online. PM me (whatever that means) and I'll send you the file.

This thread shocks me .