How to save energy and money with a smart meter
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At Ecotricity, our mission is to end fossil fuels and fight the climate crisis by building new sources of green energy.
We also understand that managing your household budget is just as important as managing your carbon footprint, but when it comes to energy there’s no conflict – saving energy helps fight climate change and saves you money.
One of the best tools you can use to take control of your energy usage is a smart meter. Here’s how you can use yours to bring down your bills;
Knowledge is power
First things first. Smart meters don't automatically reduce your bills. It's more like a partnership between you and the smart meter, using the information it provides to unlock savings.
When you get a smart meter installed, you also get a portable in-home display (IHD). This clever little unit sits in your home and shows you your energy usage in near-real time without having to go and peer at your meter.
Instead of waiting for a bill to see how much energy you’ve used, you can see exactly what you’re spending, hour by hour and day by day. This allows you to pinpoint where and when you might be using more energy than you expected, helping you be more energy efficient.
For example, if your daily cost is higher than average, think about what you’ve done during the day. Was the oven on for a long time? Did people have baths instead of showers? Or was it a cold day, so you’d expect your energy use to go up a little? In this way, little by little, you can get a feel for what’s costing you money and decide to cut back.
Become an appliance detective
The method we’ve outlined above is approximate but easy to do. However, if you’d like a more exact information about what’s costing you money in your home, you can use your smart meter to become an appliance detective – no license required.
To work out how much a specific electrical appliance costs to run, you’ll first need to set a baseline energy use. Turn off everything you can but don’t worry if you can’t reach the plug for the fridge or dishwasher, you can work around that. Then leave everything for 10 mins before checking the live usage data on your IHD. This is your baseline.
Now, turn on the appliance you want to measure. This could be your oven, a portable heater, the television – just be sure to only turn on one thing.
Again, wait 10 minutes to make sure the IHD has got the latest info, then check the difference in usage and cost on the screen. If the amount on your screen jumps by, say, 70p per hour when you switch a heater on, you know exactly what that appliance costs to run and this can help you decide when it’s worth using and what you can afford.
You can repeat this exercise to measure any electrical appliance in your home but take some readings with a pinch of salt. For example, an oven may use more energy when heating up to the temperature you’ve set, then less to keep it hot, so sometimes it’s best to consider your complete usage of the appliance rather than taking a snapshot.
Pay only for the energy you use
Smart meters have another benefit – you only pay for the energy you use. With traditional meters, if you forgot to send in a meter reading, you'd get an estimated bill which wouldn't be accurate. After a few months, this could sometimes mean having to unexpectedly find a large sum of money to cover the energy that you hadn't realised you'd used.
Smart meters do away with all that because they send your meter readings to us automatically over a secure encrypted network. No estimated bills, no hassle.
Access to smarter tariffs
Owning a smart meter helps to future-proof your home and gives you access to our best tariffs. For example, our EV Tariff gives you cheaper green electricity overnight to charge electric vehicles, but you need to have a smart meter for it to work.
Smart meters can also help you make money. If you've got solar panels or a small windmill, our Smart Export Tariff will pay you for the green energy you export to the grid. This is all made possible by smart meters.
Don't have a smart meter yet?
Book your free smart meter upgrade today – it takes just two hours on average and can help you save money and energy.
Call Calisen Metering* on 0161 513 7945
*Our smart meter installation partner
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