A number of meters to be configured according to a particular billing rate. Multiple billing rates may be defined, named, and stored for use. Each such billing rate may include time of use (TOU) configuration parameters and/or demand configuration parameters. Alternatively, a billing rate may include strictly consumption based parameters. Each billing rate is "meter independent", meaning that it is not specific to any particular meter configuration format. The billing rate is defined in a format that is convenient for the operator and then translated into a format that is specific to each meter on which it is implemented. Thus, to configure a number of different parameters on a number of differently formatted meters, only a single billing rate need be defined and propagated to the meters.