SMART meters are being offered to all UK households, and they could help you save money on your energy bills.
They’ve been rolled out over the past few years, and give real time information on gas and electricity usage.
1
What is a smart meter?
Smart meters are gas and electricity meters that can digitally send readings to your energy supplier.
They show you how much energy you are using in pounds and pence, so can be used to help reduce your energy bill.
Unlike traditional meters, which simply register a running total of energy used, smart meters can record half-hourly price and consumption data and provide automatic meter readings to your energy supplier.
Most homes have two meters, one for gas and one for electricity – both will be replaced with smart meters.
You will also be offered an In-Home Display to show you the cost and amount of energy you are using at any given time
It will update every 30 minutes for gas and in near real-time for electricity.
Most read in money
Do need to have a smart meter and can I refuse to have one installed?
Previously, the Government had pledged to install meters in ALL homes but it later changed the rules to make the scheme optional for householders.
It was aiming to offer smart meters to all Brits by 2020, but it has fallen behind on the rollout.
Energy companies are offering to install smart meters in customer’s homes and you can contact your supplier if you want one.
You won’t have to pay to have a smart meter installed.
If you’re offered on, you don’t have to accept it, Citizens Advice says.
But this could make some energy tariffs unavailable to you, as they are just for smart meter users.
If you switch energy supplier, you may find that the smart meter no longer sends readings to the supplier automatically if it’s an older model.
But that won’t stop you from switching.
It just means you’ll have to start reporting meter readings yourself, but you should still be able to see your electricity usage at home on the screen.
What are the benefits of installing a smart meter and can it reduce by energy bill?
It doesn’t cost you anything to have a smart meter installed – your energy supplier will do it without being charge.
Smart meters are designed so that you no longer need to send energy suppliers traditional meter readings once you’ve got one.
And it lets you track how much energy you use at night, during the day and peak times.
The display screen will show your energy usage live and show the cost in pounds and pence.
You can save money on your energy bills using a smart meter.
It won’t save you money just by having one. But being able to see your energy usage and the cost could help you understand where you can cut back.
The government’s smart energy website explains: “A smart meter can help us to identify situations where we’re using a lot of energy and might want to make changes to this.
“If you use the information shown on your in-home display to reduce your energy use, you could cut costs and become more energy efficient.”
Your bill will be more accurate too, as it’s based on readings from actual usage, rather than estimates.
You will no longer have to give meter readings and you won’t be visited by a meter reading to record your usage.
