The smart way to save
On top of this, smart meters are enabling the development of timeof-use tariffs, which charge different rates at certain times of day or night to encourage us to use less energy at peak times. And in the near future, the development of smart technology will enable appliances to automatically make use of these tariffs, with no effort from you. For instance, you could programme your washing machine to turn on at the cheapest time or your electric car could be set to charge automatically when the sun is out out and there is plenty of solar energy being generated.
Requesting a smart meter from your energy supplier is an easy step you can take towards a cleaner, smarter energy system, and it will save you money, too. Pensioners, Heather, 80, and her husband, Frank, 84, live in a terraced house in Dartford, Kent. They “When we got our smart meter from our energy supplier, we expected that it would save us some money, but we weren’t sure how much, or how immediate it would be.
“The great thing for us is that our bills are so much lower now because we’re monitoring our energy usage. And because we’ve been together so long – it’s our diamond anniversary in February – naturally, a lot of our appliances are nearly as long in the tooth as we are! So being able to see which ones need replacing or where we can use them less is a huge help.
“For us it became obvious quite quickly where we could save money on our energy bill. We had a bit of a light-hearted disagreement centering around our beloved rescue cats Rusty and Homer, and the fact that my husband likes to leave the lights on until they are both safely home for the evening.
“We’ve had our cats for 12 years and most nights they go out for a prowl. At around 8.30pm Frank would put on the three living room spotlights, so the cats could find their way home. The trouble was, if they were having a particularly exciting time, it might be 11.30pm before they came back in and I was worried how much electricity the spotlights were using. “Once we had our smart meter fitted, we could see on the in-home display exactly how much it was costing us in pounds and pence to leave those lights on every night. It was then that we both realised we needed to make a change.
Frank didn’t want to stop leaving the lights on for the cats, so we decided to replace the bulbs with an energy saving variety. This led to an immediate reduction in our energy bills.
“Now we’re all happy – Frank gets to keep the lights on for the cats,
I’m content in the knowledge that it’s costing us a fraction of what we were spending before, and Rusty and Homer always find their way home at night.”
Smart Energy GB is the government backed organisation tasked with informing Great Britain about the benefits of the smart meter rollout. Unlike traditional meters, a smart meter is a digital, data-driven device that enables you to track how much energy you are using in pounds and pence. This gives you the information you need to make small, but important, environmentally friendly changes, such as switching to more energy efficient light bulbs which are kinder to the planet. But those little lifestyle tweaks could add up to big monetary savings over time. Plus because a smart meter sends energy readings direct to your supplier, saving money has never been so easy!