In the early days, no one really knows how much a household’s monthly gas and electric consumption is unless an authorized meter man gets to read it. The only thing that homeowners can do in order to save up some money at that time and avoid having a huge gas/electric bill is to limit their use of electric- or gas-powered items within their homes. This means less TV time, turning off the lights by 6 p.m., and so on. While this is effective in reducing one’s gas/electric consumption, the thing is, the comfortability of the family members inside the home is obviously sacrificed.
The smart meters – Making Everyone’s Lives Comfortable
Thanks to the development of smart meters by British Gas, the biggest supplier of energy in the UK, everyone can now conveniently see and know how much energy that a particular household or establishment is using at a given period of time.
But what exactly is a smart meter? A smart meter is a sort of an electricity monitor, but it is a much more sophisticated device that can accurately read and measure your overall gas and electric usage per day.
How does a smart meter work? With the use of wireless technology that is similar to that of a mobile phone, the readings that are collected by the smart meter are then automatically sent to British Gas each day. This eliminates the hassle of having to submit your household’s meter readings first before you get your total monthly energy bill. Moreover, what’s great about smart meters is that they are conveniently linked directly to your bill, which means that you get to pay only for the energy that you’ve used!
What is the main purpose of smart meters? The main purpose of using smart meters is that they tremendously help many households utilize less energy. Think about it, if you can actually see for yourself how much energy you are using in your home, then you would make some necessary changes should you like to use less energy (yet in a more efficient way), and also save some extra money on your monthly energy bills.
What’s in it for British Gas? British Gas simply aims to help their valued customers use less energy with the help of their smart meters. To further help them out, they have also introduced simplified bills in order to bring more transparency and simplicity to understanding energy as well as to promote responsible energy consumption.
Oxford Economics – smart meters assessed
British Gas is absolutely determined to roll out their smart meters as soon as possible to many UK households and businesses, and to further promote their goal, they have commissioned Oxford Economics to investigate and assess the value of smart metering to Britain. The end results turned out to be truly positive and favorable. The latest and most comprehensive smart meter report conducted by Oxford Economics analyzes the smart meters’ costs and benefits from years 2012 to 2030, and the verdict was that while the national roll out of these smart meters would cost around £11.5 billion, the benefits of using smart meters could reach up to £25.3 billion! Truly, a tremendously beneficial gain for Britain of almost £14 billion! Based on Oxford Economics’ report, below are the key benefits of using smart meters:
- For households and business, they get a whopping £11.2 billion in energy savings! The report states that with the existence of smart meters, people in households and businesses will see their energy consumption and if they are provided specially-personalized energy advice, it will help them save 5% (around £60) on their annual energy bill.
- For energy suppliers, they get an amazing £10.7 billion in efficiency savings! The Oxford Economics’ report stated that since the British energy market is deemed to be one of the most competitive in the world, then the savings that are generated from the use of smart meters will then be passed onto the consumers themselves, giving them more reductions on their energy bills.
- Savings of about £3.2 billion in generation charges! The use of smart meters would result to a lower energy demand; thus, this reduces the amount of energy being generated and utilized for consumption in Britain. The savings will then be made from the reduced costs around the trading of carbon.
Final Thoughts
In many areas all around the world, it becomes extremely cold during wintertime. Thus, most people tend to make themselves comfortable by turning up their heaters, and in some households, they let the heaters run all day even if there’s no one in the house. A lot of people, even those who are very conscious about their budgets, typically lose track of their energy usage because they simply have no way of knowing what is exactly the amount of gas and electricity that they are consuming for a certain period of time. Fortunately, the existence of British Gas smart meters have paved the way for accurate tracking of gas and electricity consumption, and this has proven to be very beneficial for the homeowners because they can now finally be able to keep track and truly control their energy usage.
What do you feel about using a smart meter at your UK home or business area? Do you think that using a smart meter in your home would be beneficial for you and your family? Most people do believe that smart meters are not only nifty and convenient, but they also help when it comes to saving up money, energy, and most of all, preserving the environment for the future generations.
If you would like to know more on how to save that hard-earned money of yours and keep accurate track of your energy usage with the help of smart meters, kindly visit British Gas’ website, or check them out on Facebook and Twitter.
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