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Smart Meters
The truth about Smart Meters - the good and the bad
Energy supply companies have been installing smart meters for electricity and gas in homes across Great Britain since 2012. By 2025, all residential and small businesses across England, Scotland and Wales will be offered a smart meter by their energy supplier.
In Northern Ireland the Department for the Economy (DfE) has recommended an electricity smart meter roll-out over six years starting in 2027. A gas roll-out won't be included as the benefits were not sufficient.
A smart meter sends an electronic meter reading to your energy supplier, meaning:
- they won't need to take a manual meter reading - as the meters send back readings themselves
- you won't get estimated bills - as actual readings are available
- it'll be easier to switch energy suppliers - as the reading at changeover is readily available
- there should be less arguments - as the readings are reliable and not subject to disagreement.
You'll also get a digital display in your home, helping you to keep track of how much energy you're using and how much it's costing.
You won't have to pay for your smart meter or digital display up front - the cost will be included in everyone's energy bill over the next few years.
A smart meter won't change how you currently pay for your energy bill, e.g. monthly, or prepaid. This will still be determined by the product and payment method you choose.
Smart Meters and their roll-out haven't been perfect and they've been the subject of negative headlines. What do these headlines really mean?
- Smart Meters don't work - this headline has covered different problems over time, so let's break it down into the different reasons:
- Incorrect Bills - When the Smart Meters fail to send in readings suppliers use estimates. This can go on for a while and can sometines result in an unexpectedly large bill when a reading finally gets through.
The meters are still recording accurately so customers just need to check their bill is not using estimates and send in a manual reading if necessary. If you do not want to check your bill just send in a meter reading every month as you would with a traditional meter. - IHD not working - Many customers call the In Home Device that usually sits on the worktop in their kitchen their “meter”. So, when that doesn't work they complain their meter is not working. Their meter is working and recording energy accurately but, frustratingly, they cannot see that on the IHD. They have to go to their meter to read their consumption.
Solutions to the IHD being too far away from the Comms Hub are being investigated by the Alt HAN Co Ltd. - No communications - Communication with the meters is essential to set up tariffs and prepayment mode. Without communications your meter will operate as a traditional one rate meter, and you'll have to take your own readings. Understandably customers get very frustrated when their meters can't communicate and yet they have a good mobile signal and a good broadband connection. Progress to find alternative solutions for the Wide Area Network (WAN) have been slow which is again frustrating as the barriers to a solution are not technical but political.
- Stops working after changing supplier - Older SMETS 1 meters operated on many different management systems and could not always be supported when a customer changed supplier as the systems tended to be supplier specific. SMETS 2 meters do not have this problem as a common system is used operated by the Data Communications Company (DCC).
- Incorrect Bills - When the Smart Meters fail to send in readings suppliers use estimates. This can go on for a while and can sometines result in an unexpectedly large bill when a reading finally gets through.
- North South Divide - As the characteristics of the North and South of the country are different, a different communications system was used for each. Each system has pros and cons but sensibly a longer-range radio system was used in the North. However, customers can get frustrated when they have a perfectly good mobile phone signal and the Long Range Radio signal to their meter is too weak for communication to work successfully.
There is no deliberate North South divide making one worse than the other. See more information on our SMETS 2 page.
Many people have questions about Smart Meters, this website tries to answer them honestly for electricity and gas meters, thoroughly and without bias. This site does not deal with Smart water meters as our team do not have expertise in that area.
(Page updated: 2024-12-08)