Why do you not already have a smart meter?

Smart Meters help you track your usage of gas and electricity so that you can see what you are spending daily, weekly, and monthly, letting you review and reduce your energy consumption. For more tips and tricks go and look at how to save money on your energy bills.

The small compact touch screen will inform you of how much you have spent that day, week and month and show you your budget for those days. This visual display gives you a diagram and chart of your expenditure which will need to stay on and always plugged in to connect to the energy supply.

What is a Smart Meter?

In simple terms, it is a small wireless device that records your gas and electric data securely and sends meter readings to your supplier monthly. The digital display shows you, your energy consumption and how much it has cost immediately after you have spent it. 

Why do I need a Smart Meter?

The benefits of having a smart meter in your home:

Accurate meter readings and only paying for what you have spent and not paying for estimates or inaccurate bills from your supplier. Help you manage and visualise how much energy you are using. This will stop you from overspending and wasting energy for your pocket and the planet.

How is it secure?

The government has provided the Smart Meter Code of Practice to ensure that all your data is protected and that its insulation of it is performed safely and is easy for everyone to understand. This policy also covers consumers from being mis-sold or reselling the smart meter.

If you have a smart meter or get one installed, you will be able to control where your data is sent to and what supplier so that no third parties can get involved.

How much will a smart meter cost?

Smart meters and the installation will not cost you anything upfront or on the day of installation. Your energy supplier will recover the cost through your energy bills over time.

However, some energy providers might offer to do an energy-efficient inspection at the time of installation, but this is only a recommendation and completely up to the consumer. 

When will I get my smart meter?

Different energy company’s different timelines.

Nevertheless, you can contact your supplier to arrange an appointment for the fitting of a smart meter and they will guide you through the process.

Usually, it should not take anymore than 90 minutes to fit a smart meter into your home, obviously depending on the property and location of the meter, you have already. Although if your provider does do an energy-efficient inspection this could take more time. After they have installed a smart meter in your home, they will show you how to use it easily and properly.

The Energy Saving Trust predicts that all homes and small businesses will have a smart meter by 2025 and they believe that there will be around 50 million meters supplying 27 million households and companies.