Smart meters why

The benefits of smart meters and their impact on customers. In short, the smart meter is at the heart of the transformation of the electricity grid into a smart grid. The data collected from these devices is enabling the use of other digital technologies, such as edge computing , cloud computing , artificial intelligence and big data , for network operation and exploitation, therefore improving the customer experience.

Skip to main content. You are in Innovation Smart meters. Share in Twitter. Share in Facebook. Whatsapp Whatsapp. Smart meters, a building block for the digitisation of the grid A smart meter provides detailed information on consumption in order to reduce electricity bills and also increase knowledge about the status of the electricity grid, which improves its performance and the quality of service for customers.

Carousel of images and videos. The above-mentioned significant technological developments enable smart meters to perform new functions: Multiple energy registers and multiple tariffs Smart meters store energy consumption on an hourly or even more detailed basis.

By establishing supply water pumps in communities themselves, needs were met without wasteful large-scale infrastructure. In the case of electricity, if you group together domestic and commercial batteries with solar panels and wind turbines, the localisation of energy supply suddenly becomes real. Add to this advances in small-scale nuclear fusion and offshore wind, and you can see wholesale changes in how the country powers itself.

Looking forward, large power stations could become redundant and the whole system will become more flexible, efficient and clean. At the heart of these changes, however, sit smart meters and the need to control, balance and measure the flow of electricity.

Testing has been slow and quality control issues have been numerous. In fact, it currently takes suppliers more than four weeks to test a new smart meter device or firmware release. In order to meet the deadline now is the time for suppliers to look at automating and outsourcing this process to increase speed and reduce costs. If you consider the increasing complexity and pressure on the future world that smart meters are designed to support, the magnitude of the task ahead increases.

As the flow of energy becomes more technologically and economically complex, big energy providers need to be agile and upgrade their skills. The gas engineers and electricians of the old system will morph into the remote IT specialists, software managers and systems integrators of the future. The roll out of smart meters should be a major turning point in our journey towards a low emissions future. What has become clear though, is that, this first step outside their technical comfort zone has been tricky.

These cookies are necessary for the website to function correctly. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you. Contact your supplier to find out if a smart meter is suitable for your property.

Smart meters come with an in-home display which shows how much energy is being used in near real time. You can see what you're spending in pounds and pence, which may encourage you to reduce your energy consumption. From the moment your smart meter is installed, you are helping to reduce our carbon emissions as a nation - even without making changes at home to use less energy. This is because smart meters are the foundation to a smarter energy system.

With the information they offer, they will help us better integrate renewable power, such as wind, solar and hydro power, and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. With one of the SMETS2 meters, you should be able to switch energy suppliers without any interruption to your energy readings, bill payments or gas and electricity supply. If you have a SMETS1 meter you may need to send in your meter readings in order to get an accurate bill following a switch just as you would with traditional meters.

But this is a temporary situation and does not affect your ability to switch your energy supplier — so you can go ahead and change your gas or electricity supplier. There is no extra cost for the in-home display. You won't have an extra charge on your bill because you choose to have a smart meter.

The costs will be spread across everyone's bills, just like the cost of running and maintaining today's traditional meters are. A smart meter comes in two main parts and will be installed by your energy supplier s. Your traditional gas and electric meters will be replaced with smart meters which send your meter readings to your energy supplier s. You will also receive an in-home display which will show you how much energy you're using in pounds and pence.

Smart meters are set up to work for both prepay and credit customers, so that means prepay needn't be any more expensive.

In fact, prepay customers will be able to access time-of-use tariffs , which can help you save money if you are able to use less energy during periods of high demand known as peak periods and more energy during periods of low demand known as off peak periods. In-home displays are portable devices that can sit anywhere in the home. They communicate with your smart meter and show you how much gas and electricity you're using, in pounds and pence.

There are various settings, which allow you to view your energy usage by the day, per week or per month. This means you can more accurately manage your costs and budgets. Being able to view the details of your gas and electricity usage on your in-home display makes it easier to identify situations where you may be using a lot of energy and help you figure out ways in which you could reduce this. Seeing how much energy you're using as you use it means that, on those cold winter nights when you might be worried about the cost of turning up your heating, you can stay warm knowing exactly what it's costing you.

You can understand more and change your cookies preferences here. In this article. Smart meters give both you and your energy provider accurate and regular updates on how much electricity and gas you use. Like traditional gas and electricity meters, smart meters measure your energy use. The main difference is that they automatically send this information over wireless networks to your supplier.

Smart meters come with an in-home display IHD , which shows you how much energy you use in real time, and how much it's costing. You might also have an online account or app where you can see this. Knowing this should help you to better control your energy use. Here, we explain exactly what smart meters are, how they work, whether you have to have a smart meter, how to get a smart meter, and whether getting one installed could save you money.

Find out what to expect from a smart meter installation. Smart meters replace your existing gas and electricity meters. They use wireless networks, similar to mobile phone networks, to send data directly to your energy supplier about how much gas and electricity you're using. Within your home your gas smart meter, smart electricity meter and in-home display IHD talk to each other wirelessly.

Electricity smart meters are connected to the mains and monitor how much power you're using in real time. Gas smart meters are battery powered and 'asleep' for most of the time, waking up every half hour to give a reading and communicate this via your electricity meter. An electricity smart meter is connected to a communications hub. Sometimes the hub is built into it. This allows it to communicate with your IHD, using the smart meter home-area network.

It also talks to the wider Data Communications Company DCC network, via the smart meter wide-area network, so it can send your energy-use data to your supplier. Further north, they communicate via long-range radio. There are also different technologies to connect your IHD to your communications hub. They should start to be installed in homes in Smart meters are different from energy monitors.

There are two types of smart meter: first and second generation.