Smart Meter: What is it and Why it can Save You Money on your Bills
The smart meter is a newly introduced kind of electricity and gas meter that digitally sends meter readings to your energy utility company. This ensures more accuracy in your energy bills. In addition, the meter comes with a monitor to assist you in terms of understanding your energy usage. By 2020, every home in Britain will be having a smart meter already installed.
How does it Work?
These next generation meters are designed to replace your current meters, which are still using technology developed a couple of decades ago. The Smart Meters utilise DCC, a secure national communication network in automatically and wirelessly sending to your supplier the actual energy usage in your household. As such, households will no longer be relying on energy bills that are estimated, or be required to supply their own regular meter readings, or even have meter readers coming to read the meter in their homes.
Smart Meters also come equipped with an In-Home Display (IHD) and it’s not really the meter per se that will save you money, rather it’s the useful information you’ll get from the IHD. This is because the Display will show you precisely what your homestead is using and when, from which you can learn energy saving techniques and potentially bring down your energy bills.
Benefits of a Smart Meter
Using a Smart Meter comes with several benefits:
- More accurate energy bills: The Smart Meters ushers in the end of estimated bills, or the need of remembering to supply meter readings and/or strange meter readers intruding into your domestic privacy.
- Better insights into your usage: With the IHD, you immediately can see how your lifestyle and habits impact your energy consumption and ultimately the bill. From such insights, it is possible to make decisions that are smarter towards saving money and energy.
- Easier and faster energy switching: Because your data on usage is readily accessible, if you find it necessary to switch your energy utility company, the process is very fast, taking just about half an hour.
- Innovative energy tariffs: Making use of collected energy household consumption data, suppliers are in a position to develop more competitive and cost-effective tariffs.
- Taking the UK’s energy system into the contemporary 21st century: Today the future is definitely smart, and the new smart meters form part of the national effort towards creating a smart energy grid, part of providing efficient, low-carbon, reliable and efficient energy to households in Britain.
What is the Cost?
Installation of your Smart Meter is usually going to cost you nothing as it gets installed by the energy supplier for example, First Utility. The roll-out cost is already covered in your energy bill—similar to how installation and maintenance of your traditional meters is covered.
Bottom Line
It’s the simple, small changes that will assist you in terms of saving money on your energy bill like boiling only a single mug’s worth of hot water if in fact that’s what is needed. One more tip is to consider turning off some appliances overnight when they are not required. Even when on standby you are still using some energy, which of course doesn’t make sense financially if your goal is to save.
With this Smart Meter, you will obtain a clearer picture and deeper insight into the amounts of energy different household actions and appliances use so that you can accordingly modify your behaviour with the goal of making savings.
*This is a collaborative post.
We just installed one of these last year and it has helped with budgeting a lot. Not just knowing what you’re spending, but actively testing different savings strategies and seeing immediate results. Although the delivery fees are way more than our usage fees!
we’ve just switched from scottish power to edf because SP were a right rip off and I’m desperate to get a smart meter because we’re clearly using way too much for just two people in a house, be good to know where it goes!
I have to admit I had a right nightmare with Scottish Power and I refuse to use them now as it was just crazy! x
Ooh my dad would love to hear about this so I must let him know! This sounds like a much better idea and could save a lot of money!
I honestly cannot wait to have one myself – I hope it helps him 🙂 x
It does my head in submitting my meter readings so this little beauty would make a whole load of difference, thanks for the post 🙂
It’s awful isn’t it – our meters are in the worst places as well so its not easy to get them. x
Oh I’ve heard about these. I’m always looking for ways to save a few pennies on bills!
Any way I can save money I am onto it. Thanks Sarah. I’ll probably owe you more than one if this is as impressive as it sounds!
Honestly I had the lesser version and it was good, I can’t wait to get one of these installed – for sending readings through if nothing else. x
We were due to have one installed last month, but there was a problem when they came to carry out the exchange… more work required first, can;t wait though!
Oh no what a nightmare – hope it doesn’t take too long before it is in 🙂 x
I love smart meters- they’re so good at teaching you how to be energy efficient!
i rang my company up and they said they wernt providing them 🙁
Now I’m wishing the electric company also has a smart meter here. I am all for saving money.
These look great, especially for people trying to monitor their energy usage or manage their money more effectively.
Now that we have a new house and all the bills fall on me, this is just what I need. I like the idea of conserving energy as well as saving money.
I have heard about the smart meters and I can’t wait to have one fitted. It will save us so much money.
This sounds really great! Do they have these smart meters for the US?
Yes I believe they do 🙂 worth asking your provider about them x
Anything that helps cut down on my always climbing bills is worth a try! This sounds like a great device.
This would be great to help with money wise. Would be interesting to see how much energry we are using too
Yes!! I can benefit from this device in my house. A family of 6 with all kind of electronics in the house.
My mother in law swears by hers, and her bills have fallen. I need to get looking into it too!
I love the sound of that digital display – think I’d get obsessed with checking it though!
I think the smart meter can really help you monitor your usage. It allows you to be more conscious of your usage and see what items consume more.
Smart meters are great. Sad they can’t work at our house..
Hi there, smart meter is one of my client I do marketing for. I think it a brilliant idea to have in the home. xx
We need to install something like this, I think. We have so many appliances that use up so much energy!
Smart meters for water and power are the best tools for conservation. Being informed lets you be in control of your consumption and your bills.
I always jump at a chance to save money on my bills and I would love this smart meter as mostly I forget to send the meter readings to the gas and electric companies
We have had a smart meter for several years. I can’t say that i see any significant savings. I do know that it keeps costs down. No meter readers and those liabilities.
I love saving money. The Smart Meter sounds awesome.
Thank you for all of this information. I have always wanted to get a smart meter.
Great tips! Saving money is so important that every one should know how to do
This sounds awesome. Sounds like it would really be worth looking into. With a house full of kids, we could use something like this!
The place I will be moving into at the end of May or beginning of June is installed with a smart meter and I cannot wait. Especially since I am broke!
Sounds like a good idea, hubby normally sorts out meter readings I haven’t a clue about that stuff.
I can definitely see this helping us out a lot. We don’t have a good idea of how much energy we’re using.
This sounds great, my only problem is that I am a penny pincher at the best of times and I know that I would do EVERYTHING to keep the numbers down if I could actually see it! H x
I think it’s a great idea to be able to monitor your electricity consumption. My other half is a nightmare at boiling the kettle and then wandering off to do something only to return 5 minutes later and boil it again. It drives me insane x
I don’t think they offer these in our area, but I plan to check into it. I’m all about saving money whenever I can.
I always make sure I submit my metre readings quite regularly because I’ve had so many issues with predicted bills x
I am still waiting for mine to be on the roll-out but as you know, I do have a vested interest given the job my Mister does x
Hopefully they get to us both soon – they are too slow 😉
I am going to pass this on to my husband (he handles all the bills) as we could really do with saving some money on ours.
I really hope it helps you save a few pennies 🙂
Smart meters are great for keeping an eye on how much electricity and gas that you use and I hear its hypnotic once you start staring it at!
Haha my Dad is so funny with his – he will gasp if it is getting to high.
I need to check and see if my electric company offers this. I’m all for saving money on my electric bill, especially during the hot southern summer.
I need to look into this. I am ALL FOR saving money where ever I can!
I’ll confess that I have a vested interest in smart meters as you know Sarah. I think they are a great piece of kit for helping people get a grip on their energy costs and after speaking to people who have already upgraded lots are taking steps to reduce their bills when they see how much they are spending or wasting. I would regularly boil my kettle two or three times before making a drink – now I only fill up the kettle with the amount of water I need and always make sure I use it after the first boil!
It’s all your fault I know about them 😉 – I honestly do think they are such a great idea though, just need one fitted now!