The invention discloses an online upgrading method for an electric energy meter. An upper computer sends a command to the electric energy meter, and a storage region of an upgrading file is reset. The upper computer sends the upgrading file to an external memory of the electric energy meter with a specified number, a corresponding sign is arranged next, and then the correctness of the upgrading file is checked; after the upgrading file passes the check, a corresponding sign is arranged, and if the upgrading file does not pass the check, the corresponding sign is removed, and follow-up upgrading operation is not conducted; the electric energy meter is restarted. In the starting process, whether the electric energy meter is upgraded or not is selected by checking the position of the corresponding sign. If the electric energy meter is not upgraded, the electric energy meter runs normally. If the electric energy meter is upgraded, the electric energy meter wipes off a corresponding region of internal Flash, reads the upgrading file in the external memory to an RAM space by multiple times and then updates the upgrading file into the internal Flash; after the upgrading file is completely updated, the corresponding sign is removed, the electric energy meter is restarted, and the upgrading operation is over. By means of the online upgrading method, online grading of the electric energy meter is achieved, the operation difficulty is low, and upgrading is convenient.