“Smart meters are a key part of giving us all more control over how we use energy at home and at work, helping us to cut out waste and save money.”
- Chris Huhne, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has set a target to install 53 million smart meters across the UK over the next 20 years.
Research from energy switching website uSwitch found that 27% of homes are receiving incorrect energy bills. Smart meters help to overcome this problem by showing you how much gas and electricity you are using and the cost of that energy. They then feed the information back to the energy supplier to provide accurate meter readings.
The Government estimates that smart meters will save energy suppliers over £300 million a year by removing the need to take meter readings or deal with bill disputes; whilst consumers will save £23 per year on their energy bills because they’re more aware of how much energy they use as the meter is more visible and not hidden in a cupboard.
However, the results of a 12-month study by Dr Tom Hargreaves, of the School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia found that “…the effects quickly wear off after an initial burst of energy saving when the monitors are brand new…In some homes, their use was abandoned; in others there were rows over energy consumption between parents and teenagers or between partners.”
When we first got our smart meter, I admit, we went little crazy and started turning appliances on and off to see how much energy they used. But 12 months down the line, our smart meter lies abandoned in our hall gathering dust.
But owning a smart meter has changed the way I think about how I use power in my home. When I was younger I could never understand why my Dad was always telling me to “turn off the lights”. But when your smart meter is showing you how much it costs to keep the lights on unnecessarily, you quickly reach for that light switch. Since we installed our smart meter we are more conscious about leaving lights on, and we switch things like the TV and computer off at the wall, rather than leaving them on standby.
I may only be saving £23 a year, but that’s £23 extra that I now have to spend on make-up and chocolate – and that can’t be a bad thing!
