Smart Meters: Benefiting You, Your Wallet, and the Environment
By now, most UK citizens have been exposed to some news relating to the smart meter scheme – a plan to install a smart meter in every home in Britain by 2020.
The plan, unveiled in May 2009, is currently in a trial phase, with a few thousand British homes already fitted with a smart meter device. It is designed to serve two primary purposes: to enable gas and electricity suppliers to record their customers’ usage of resources remotely, and to make consumers more aware of how much gas and electricity they’re using.
Thus far, the benefits have been clear in smart meter trial cases. Consumers who have had experience with the meters have experienced no – or significantly fewer – problems with regard to inaccurate bills. Countless Brits often complain that conventional gas and electricity meter estimates leave them overcharged. But with smart meters, companies no longer charge consumers based on estimates. Instead, accurate readings are relayed to them remotely, enabling them to send out accurate bills. The measure is expected to save consumers millions of pounds each year.
But perhaps one of the biggest advantages to installing a smart meter in every home is that consumers will know exactly how much gas and electricity they’re using – whether in a day, a week, a month or a year. A display unit can break down usage in various ways, so consumers are made aware of general usage, patterns, and perhaps over-usage. With such awareness, consumers can then make better decisions with regard to usage and conservation. The display unit also notifies consumers of their bill-in-progress – so at any point during a billing cycle, smart meter users can refer to their display unit to see what their resource costs are at that particular point in time. Trial consumers have reported an estimated cut of 10 per cent in their bills, solely due to heightened awareness with regard to gas and electricity usage.
Of course, the smart meter will take time, effort, and money. Some 48 million meters – 26 million for electricity and 22 million for gas – will need to be fitted into 25 million homes across the UK. The operation will cost an estimated £7 billion, and will take until 2020 to complete. But the financial and environmental benefits are clear: with more accurate gas and electricity bills, and a heightened awareness leading to resource conservation, consumers, gas and electricity companies, and the environment will all be better off.
