Power BI Last Refresh Time Using M and DAX example for UK (UTC + Timezone Fix)
Showing last refresh time in a Power BI report looks simple — but it can easily be wrong if you’re not careful with time zones.
A common issue:
DateTime.LocalNow() returns different results in Desktop vs Power BI Service.
In the Service, it returns UTC, which means your displayed refresh time may be incorrect.
In this video I cover:
• Why last refresh time can be wrong in Power BI
• Difference between Desktop and Service behavior
• Why DateTime.LocalNow() can be misleading
• How to correctly use UTC as a base
• How to adjust for timezone (including UK DST)
• How to display the value in a card using DAX
Key idea
If you want a reliable refresh timestamp:
• start from UTC
• apply the correct timezone offset
• handle DST if needed
What you’ll get
A clean and reliable way to show:
• accurate refresh time
• consistent results across environments
• properly formatted output in your report
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