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Posted 25/04/2022 in Category 1

What are the pros and cons of installing a smart meter in your home?


What are the pros and cons of installing a smart meter in your home?

As energy prices continue to rise, many consumers are turning to smart meters in order to track exactly how much energy they are using at home. This small device records the consumption and price data every half an hour, which then appears on a small screen that sits unobtrusively in your home. You can get one for electricity and one for gas if you use both of these services.


In England, Scotland and Wales, energy companies are obliged to provide smart meters to their customers, free of charge. They are also required to install this for you, to make sure that it works correctly. Whilst it might feel odd for some people to have something in their home that reports to a central database almost constantly, the UK government has ensured that the smart meter network is secure, so there is very little risk of personal data protection issues.


But do you need a smart meter, and what are the pros and cons of having one? We take a look.

Pros

Saving energy and money

Perhaps one of the biggest benefits of smart meters is that they can help you save energy by giving you detailed information about the amount of electricity and gas you’re using. Knowledge is power, and 22% of carbon emissions come from our homes, so it’s vital to be on top of reducing your usage in order to combat climate change. Some companies even offer an online hub to go with your smart meter, where you can track what you’re using, and get tips for reducing this.


Not only will cutting down on your energy usage be beneficial for your carbon footprint, but it will also save you money, as you’re more likely to stay on top of turning electronic devices off when you can easily see that they’re racking up the pennies. When combined with a smart tariff, they can even be programmed to take advantage of the cheaper rates for things like charging electric cars and running smart washing machines.

More accurate bills

Since a smart meter records accurate data of how much energy a consumer is using, this makes it easier for you to let your energy company know just how much you’ve used at the end of the billing period, and be charged correctly. You can either do this manually or set your smart meter to send these recordings to your energy company directly on a regular basis.


Cons

Rural areas may struggle

Perhaps one of the issues with smart meters is that they rely on a data connection to work and send the usage recordings remotely. People who live in rural areas may struggle to get enough signal to send the readings, and the smart meter might have patchy tracking, defeating the point of getting it installed in the first place.

Bill anxiety

If you’re worried about your bills, smart meters are a good way to track your spending, but they can also cause worry if you compulsively watch the numbers. To manage this, try putting your smart meter somewhere that you can access when you need it, but you won’t walk past it all the time. Then, you can keep track of your bills without them being at the forefront of your mind all the time.