(*See our section on SMETS1 and SMETS2 meters below, though.) All the data is sent straight to the utility firm, saving you that monthly chore. The electric radiator in my home office, for example, costs about 18p per hour to operate during office hours (see the section on variable tariffs below). A few seconds after you switch on the appliance, the screen updates with the new running total. Using that data, you can get a rough idea of how much it costs to switch on individual appliances. Perhaps the most useful screen on my in-home display is the one that shows how much electricity/gas you’re currently using on a dial ranging from low to high. ![]() Information on your current electricity and gas tariffs.Historic usage data over the past day/week/month.A running total of your current gas/electricity bill.The features of in-home displays will vary from unit to unit, but here’s the type of information you should receive: This helps you keep abreast of how much energy you’re using. The smart meter uses the mobile phone network (an old data standard called GPRS, for the techies in the house) to send the data to the utility firms, so you don’t have to worry about having to connect your smart meter to the Wi-Fi or anything like that. Because the meter uses wireless communication to beam meter readings back to the utility company and to your in-home display, which is where you find out how much energy you’re burning through. Instead of the rotary display on old-fashioned meters, the data is displayed on a digital display.īut you shouldn’t ever need to look at that meter. Just like your previous meter, the smart meter measures how much gas and electricity you’re using. They should all be installed by the utilities company. The meters and the in-home display are connected wirelessly through a communications hub. Other providers seem to supply smarter, colour screen devices. The unit I’ve been supplied with by Octopus Energy is a rather old-fashioned, monochrome screen affair, as pictured below. Then there’s the in-home display, which shows you how much gas and electricity you’re using, what your current bill total is and other historical data. There’s a similar looking unit connected to the gas supply. My electricity smart meter looks like this: There’s the part that replaces the current electricity and gas meters that you would normally take your meter readings from. Here, then, based on my experience with the smart meters provided by Octopus Energy, is what you can expect. Until you get them in your home, however, you might be a bit unsure about what they actually do, what benefits they bring and what the downsides are too. If you haven’t already got them, your utilities company is probably trying to shove smart meters at you every five minutes.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |