Using meters would be the smart move

FOR years now, energy companies and governments have been urging consumers to take up Smart Meters (SMs) to both save money and reduce energy consumption.

Yet, when the perfect opportunity comes along to really use those SMs for the benefit of both the consumer and energy supplier, and introduce a fairer system of trading, those previously lauded SMs are totally ignored.

An SM installed within a solar panel enhanced domestic electricity supply system automatically logs the surplus number of +kWh that the domestic supply returns to the Grid.

If energy companies simply used this data to resupply this donated electricity free of charge for the whole time the SM log is in credit, then the costly accounting and bartering systems for reselling the energy back to energy suppliers at give-away prices could be ditched to save even more time and money for everyone, and at the same time introduce a system of fair-trading.

Once the energy company has made good on the energy donated to the Grid by the consumer, the consumer once again starts to pay for the energy it is using from the Grid. Very simple. Surely it is what SMs were designed to do?

Apart from being a far geener solution, because one of the main benefits of this arrangement is that it would no longer be necessary to install thousands of pounds worth of batteries in domestic lofts, thereby eliminating all the potential hazards of such an arrangement and reducing installation costs by roughly 30 per cent.

What’s not to like? It would certainly be a big help to consumers at the moment and help to refresh the incentive to install solar panels at home.

Jeff Bishop,

Willington