diff --git a/heat/engine/resources/openstack/ceilometer/alarm.py b/heat/engine/resources/openstack/ceilometer/alarm.py
index b9bd4a4db6..c900ffd4d1 100644
--- a/heat/engine/resources/openstack/ceilometer/alarm.py
+++ b/heat/engine/resources/openstack/ceilometer/alarm.py
@@ -318,12 +318,13 @@ class CeilometerAlarm(resource.Resource):
         # make sure the matching_metadata appears in the query like this:
         # {field: metadata.$prefix.x, ...}
         for m_k, m_v in six.iteritems(mmd):
-            if m_k.startswith('metadata.%s' % prefix):
-                key = m_k
-            elif m_k.startswith(prefix):
-                key = 'metadata.%s' % m_k
-            else:
-                key = 'metadata.%s%s' % (prefix, m_k)
+            key = 'metadata.%s' % prefix
+            if m_k.startswith('metadata.'):
+                m_k = m_k[len('metadata.'):]
+            if m_k.startswith('metering.') or m_k.startswith('user_metadata.'):
+                # check prefix
+                m_k = m_k.split('.', 1)[-1]
+            key = '%s%s' % (key, m_k)
             # NOTE(prazumovsky): type of query value must be a string, but
             # matching_metadata value type can not be a string, so we
             # must convert value to a string type.
diff --git a/heat/tests/openstack/ceilometer/test_ceilometer_alarm.py b/heat/tests/openstack/ceilometer/test_ceilometer_alarm.py
index 98dd7c91f5..e272c9612f 100644
--- a/heat/tests/openstack/ceilometer/test_ceilometer_alarm.py
+++ b/heat/tests/openstack/ceilometer/test_ceilometer_alarm.py
@@ -351,6 +351,23 @@ class CeilometerAlarmTest(common.HeatTestCase):
                            'value': u'foo', 'op': 'eq'}]
         self.assertEqual(expected_query, query)
 
+    def test_alarm_metadata_correct_query_key(self):
+        t = template_format.parse(alarm_template)
+        properties = t['Resources']['MEMAlarmHigh']['Properties']
+        # Test that meter_name is not in NOVA_METERS
+        properties[alarm.CeilometerAlarm.METER_NAME] = 'memory_util'
+        properties['matching_metadata'] = {'metadata.user_metadata.groupname':
+                                           'foo'}
+        self.stack = self.create_stack(template=json.dumps(t))
+
+        rsrc = self.stack['MEMAlarmHigh']
+        rsrc.properties.data = rsrc.cfn_to_ceilometer(self.stack, properties)
+        self.assertIsNone(rsrc.properties.data.get('matching_metadata'))
+        query = rsrc.properties.data['threshold_rule']['query']
+        expected_query = [{'field': u'metadata.metering.groupname',
+                           'value': u'foo', 'op': 'eq'}]
+        self.assertEqual(expected_query, query)
+
     def test_mem_alarm_high_correct_matching_metadata(self):
         t = template_format.parse(alarm_template)
         properties = t['Resources']['MEMAlarmHigh']['Properties']