Back in October we featured
smart
meters on Finance Fridays. The general idea behind smart meters
is that they can give each household greater control over their
energy usage and bills. Rather than receiving estimated bills or
having to wait until your bills arrive a smart meter is able to real
time information and costs on energy usage. By 2020 every household
will be offered a smart meter, to help monitor their usage and costs,
at no extra cost.
Our friends over at Smart
Energy GB have been helping everyone get to grips with smart
meters. To get a better idea of how users have been getting on with
their smart meters they asked them a few questions. Here is what they found out:
- 85% of smart meter customers had better idea of what they were spending on energy.
- Customers with smart meters are more confident in the accuracy of their bills (81%) when compared to those with traditional meters (64%).
- Around 80% of people with a smart meter have taken at least one step to reduce how much energy they use.
- 79% of people with a smart meter would recommend them to others.
- When it comes to understanding their energy bills 75% of people with smart meters say they can get to grips with them but only 61% with a traditional meter can.
- For those with a smart meter 72% said they have the right information they needed to choose the right energy tariff compared to 57% of people with traditional meters.
- More than half (52%) of those with a smart meter say their new meter is helping them save money.
Smart meters can monitor the
usage of both electric and gas. People who have had a smart meter
installed have found they have become much more aware of energy
usage. Left the TV on standby? Turn it off and you can see
immediately on the smart meter the difference it makes. Some of the
other popular methods to reduce energy usage and costs have been
simple things such as switching off lights and turning the heating
either down or off. You'll never leave your mobile phone on constant
charge again!
Have you got a smart meter?
How have you found it has helped you?
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It is useful to learn about this sort of thing to know where you can easily save energy. The TV standby thing drives me nuts I have to say - most new TVs automatically seem to have this option all the time rather than allowing a full switch off!
ReplyDeleteI don't have a smart meter yet, but I am pretty good at turning everything off when it's not in use. It's a shame the rest of the family can't do this too - maybe a smart meter would help with awareness?!
ReplyDeleteOh I should get a hold of a smart meter and try to make some savings!
ReplyDeleteI think these are a great idea - I would especially like to show my teenager the difference turning things off makes, as she seems to think stand-by is off!
ReplyDeleteI have been really tempted by these a few times, I think they might really work for us. I think with the kids growing up and tending to leave things on a bit we might need to have something like this in place.
ReplyDeleteI think this would work for us too. It looks like a good buy.
ReplyDeleteWe have just had our smart meter replaces and they are going to send us a new usage meter for free as ours wasn't reporting correctly
ReplyDeleteWe've haven't got a smart meter , we are pretty good are turning things off or I am rather
ReplyDeleteI would love a smart meter. We have an electronic thermostat and love it
ReplyDeleteI'd be really interested in getting a smart meter, our house is very inefficient when it comes to electricity and heating so it would be good to monitor it.
ReplyDeleteI've had a smart meter for a couple of years and I think they're a great tool in helping us to identify just how much energy it takes (and costs) to run a bath!!
ReplyDeleteI will mention this to my hubby, he is an energy assessor in his day job and I am sure would appreciate the input.xx
ReplyDeleteI would love one of these, I'm sure there's lots more we could do and this would really help.
ReplyDeleteInteresting to read about smart meters. We were contacted about having one but the chap never showed up. Sounds like a great way to save money you don't realise you're spending!
ReplyDelete