Smart Energy Meter Plans Unveiled, Will The Save on Energy Bills?
The government has announced a plan to end the often inaccurate estimated bills by gas and electric providers by the year 2020. The new smart meters will cost £8 billion and could save energy customers £28 a year on average on the low side. This plan is also designed to encourage responsible energy use at home.
Energy suppliers will be installing the meters at a cost thought to be around £340 per household, but the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) expects that competition between energy suppliers will bring costs lower. The DECC wants a total of 47 million new meters installed in the 26 million properties in this country. Customers could be charged a one time up front fee from the energy supplier, or charged higher bills to recoup the cost of the meter.
Gareth Kloet, heat of utilities at Confused.com stated that the only way customers could really save money is to better control their own energy consumption and learn where they could save. “The government’s plans to install smart meters in all homes is a great idea but people can take a number of practical steps right now to help cut household energy bills by monitoring and reducing usage and simply changing to a cheaper tariff or provider,” he said.