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Azure Governance and Management Blog
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Azure billing meters: What you need to know about the upcoming changes

vahe-minasyan's avatar
vahe-minasyan
Icon for Microsoft rankMicrosoft
Apr 08, 2024

Overview

This article is to inform you of some important changes that we are making as part of our ongoing efforts to improve your Azure experience and increase pricing transparency. We are making changes to the billing meters that could affect some Azure services and resources that you may use, and we want to make sure you understand what the changes are, why we are doing them, and how they will impact your billing. 

 

These updates will not impact your prices, but you may notice some changes in how your Azure consumption is shown on your invoice, price sheet, API, and other Cost Management tools.

 

What is happening?
We will be updating a number of Azure billing meters to reflect the true meter ID metadata. A billing meter is used to determine the cost of using a specific service or resource in Azure. It helps calculate the amount you will be charged based on the quantity of the resource consumed. The billing meter varies depending on the type of service or resource.

 

These updates will result in having only individual, unique meters. This means that each Azure service, resource, and region will have its own billing meter ID that precisely reflects its consumption and price. This will ensure that you see the correct meter ID on your invoice.

 

This process will be implemented in batches. Every time a batch is completed, we will update this blog. You may receive direct notifications if the upcoming batch of new meters impacts you, given your consumption. At every stage, we will continue to add the list of updated meters to this MS Learn page, and it will serve as the main reference for this project.

 

Figure 1. Updated meter information

Service Name

Product Name

Region

Feature

Meter Type

Meter ID (new)

Meter ID (previous)

Virtual Machines

Virtual Machines DSv3 Series Windows

CH West

Low Priority

1 Compute Hour

59f7c6d9-3658-5693-8925-4aae24068de8

0ce7683b-0630-4103-a9a7-75a68fbf6140

 

Why is this important?
You may notice some changes in the way your Azure consumption is reported and displayed on your invoice, price sheet, API, and other Cost Management tools. You may also need to update some of your internal processes or systems that rely on the billing meter IDs, given that those will change with these updates. There will be no impact on your prices throughout this project. The same resource, same region, and same consumption will see the same price, but under the new billing meter ID.

 

What do I need to do?
We recommend you review the list of updated meters constantly and familiarize yourself with the new meter IDs and names that apply to your Azure consumption. You should check reports that you have for analysis, budgets, and any saved views to see if they use the updated meters. If so, you might need to update them accordingly for the new meter IDs and names. If you don’t use any meters from the updated meters list, these changes don’t affect you.

 

To learn how to create and manage budgets and save and share customized views, visit the documentation below:

If you want to learn more about how to manage your billing account and subscriptions, please visit the Cost Management + Billing documentation. If you are having cost management or invoice related issues because of this change, please contact support.

 

The latest list of updated meters has been added to the MS Learn page on April 29, 2024.

 

Updated Jul 23, 2024
Version 5.0
  • mbenguigui's avatar
    mbenguigui
    Copper Contributor

    vahe-minasyan Hi .. so, is there no way to restrieve meter ids without considering specific user resource usage (ie without using the Azure cost API) .. i mean, by only using the Azure management API and specifying sku infos, for instance:

     

    "resourceType": "virtualMachines",
    "name": "Standard_EC2es_v5",
    "tier": "Standard",
    "size": "EC2es_v5",
    "family": "standardECEV5Family",
    "locations": "westeurope"

     

    Thxx

  • YousefImran's avatar
    YousefImran
    Copper Contributor

    The link to the new meter changes only includes downloads for changes. Where can we find the full list of all meters and their pricing models/plans?

    Also, although a side request but I'd appreciate an answer if possible, where do we go to find the current rates for any meter? The Azure pricing calculator does not specify the per meter rate.

    Thanks ahead.

    NOTE: I found this Azure Retail Prices REST API overview | Microsoft Learn which answers the pricing question I had. I am keeping the comment for anyone else who may have/had the same question.

  • These changes will happen in phases and only certain number of meters will be updated at a time. The list of updated meters is available on the MS Learn page, so you can see services for which meters are being updated. Depending on the service being used, the meter ID that you will see in the invoice and cost and usage details will change after this update. For example, currently for service 1 and service 2 same meter is being used. After the update service 1 will use the original meter and service 2 will use the new meter. If you are using service 2 then invoice and cost and usage details will now show new meter instead of the original meter. If you are using service 1 then the meter will continue to be original meter.

  • Heidrun_Nueckel's avatar
    Heidrun_Nueckel
    Copper Contributor

    The first announcement mentioned this changes might affect API Data. As we use API for invoicing information and booking, can we please get more information when this changes will happen and which data is affected in advance?

  • This update doesn't replace a part number. The new meters will have their own unique part numbers where they are available.

  • Yes, the meter ID (new) will be in the Azure price sheet, and it will only show up in Cost Management if a service associated with that meter occurs usage. 

  • And I hope this will help make a 1:1 between the Cost Management and the Price sheet. 

    Will we find that Meter ID (new) into the Azure Price Sheet?