Are smart meters good for your home? Pros and cons for 2024

I’m sure you’ve heard a lot about them in the news recently and your energy supplier is probably keen on you having a smart meter installed. But should you upgrade or just ignore it? I’ve had one installed for the last five years and reviewed the pros and cons of owning a smart meter and you can see whether it’s worth having one installed.

Smart Meters Pros and Cons – Quick guide

Pros

• ✅ Accurate readings – meaning more accurate bills
• ✅ No need to read the meter yourself
• ✅ Helps you monitor your energy use more closely
• ✅ No cost for installation
• ✅ Gives you access to a wider range of tariffs

Cons

• ❌ The smart meter process has led to an overall increase in energy bills
• ❌ Not all smart meters will stay smart if you switch suppliers
• ❌ It takes a lot of monitoring if you want to reduce your energy consumption
• ❌ Potential privacy concerns
• ❌ Can be switched to prepay remotely

What is a smart meter?

Smart meters measure your gas and electricity usage and then send this data to your supplier. That means you don’t have to supply your own meter readings and nobody will need to visit. You can also see how much energy you are using and when. You can have a smart credit or prepayment meter.

Once your meter is installed, you’ll receive a home display (IHD) which will give you an overview of your real-time energy usage.

It’s important to note that a smart meter is not the same as a smart thermostat used to control your heating.

Are they safe?

Whilst it’s true that smart meters do emit radiation, the levels are much smaller compared to everyday electronic devices like your broadband router or mobile phone. There’s simply no evidence to suggest they are dangerous.

In fact, in my personal experience, I found that a smart meter has the potential to be a life saver. When a new gas meter is fitted, the engineers should do a baseline check. This is mainly to check that the new meter is accurate.

However, in our case, the engineer discovered that we had a tiny leak in one of our pipes. And considering the boiler was in our son’s room, this had the potential to be fatal. So, even if the smart meter never saved us a penny, it made us feel a lot safer.

Are they free to install?

Yes. Well no, but technically yes.

The whole smart meter rollout has been backed by the government, which has told energy companies to install the meters for free. However, a lot of this money has been raised by increasing our energy prices. So it won’t cost you for the engineer to come out, instead, we have all been paying higher energy bills over the last few years.

Does the installation take long?

No, a smart meter installation should take between 1 and 2 hours. Obviously, this depends on everything being straightforward. In our case (which discovered a small gas leak), it took just over two hours.

How big is a smart meter?

Sizes of meters vary. But in general, you’ll find that smart gas meters are slightly smaller than the old ones, whilst electric meters tend to be slightly larger.

Expect meters to measure in the region of 8 inches high x 5 inches wide x 3 inches deep.

The difference between an IHD and a smart meter

Before I get into the ups and downs of smart meters, I wanted to clear up a little confusion I see a lot on forums. Just to be clear, a smart meter is the unit that your gas or electricity supply runs into. It’s usually outside of your home or in a cupboard under the stairs – although these aren’t the only places.

The IHD, also known as an In Home Display, is a small portable screen that tells you how much energy you’re using and how much you’re spending (see left).

Your smart meter will continue to function even if you don’t have an IHD.

If you don’t have an IHD, you can ask your provider for a replacement… although they can be a little difficult to get hold of. Alternatively, you can pick up an Ivie unit, which does cost but also comes with some nifty extra features.

What are the main benefits of smart meters?

I’m sure most of us are aware that energy providers often supply us with estimated bills. Rather than sending somebody around to read our traditional meters (which costs them money), they guess how much energy we use.

And usually, they guess wrong, which goes in their favour. So a year later, you will check your bill, and the energy company owes you £100’s! It’s always nice to get that lump sum back, but it means that a company gains interest from our money. A smart meter means the energy company should always bill you accurately.

Another benefit is tracking your usage in real-time using a smart meter display. The IHD above is my old energy monitor supplied by First Utility.

As you can see, it shows electricity is constantly being used – usually with items being left on standby. At 07.30 the family got up and the kettle and TV went on and at 10.30 the washing machine started. The energy spikes on the graph don’t come as a real surprise.

The big plus to this though, is that if I feel my electricity usage is too much, I can go around the house turning items on and off to see what costs me the most. Ask yourself, “Do I really need to leave that TV on stand-by?” Do you know how much energy your Sky box uses at night when it updates?

As I mentioned above, meter readings are sent to utility companies automatically.

For me, the biggest benefit of a smart meter is access to discounted tariffs. For example, Intelligent Octopus gives electric car owners far cheaper electricity at night… but only with a smart meter. Because energy suppliers pressured into installing more of these smart meters, they’re offering these incentives.

Access to Demand Flexibility Scheme

In 2023, the Demand Flexibility Scheme (DFS) was introduced by the National Grid. This scheme allows users to earn money when they reduce their electricity consumption during a certain period. This will be a one or two-hour time slot selected by the National Grid between 5 a.m. and 5 p.m.

However, because they need access to real-time data, this is only open to smart meter holders. You can find out how I got on with the Octopus Savings Sessions.

What are the main downsides of smart meters?

The biggest pitfall I can see is the forcing of customers onto a prepayment meter. Usually, the cheapest way to pay for your energy is by direct debit or on receipt of your bill. This often means paying for your energy after you’ve used it.

But many of us struggle from time to time, and we may fall behind with our bills. In that case, your energy company may look to switch you to a prepayment meter, which often means you have to pay more for your energy and buy it in advance.

If you don’t agree to this and you have a traditional meter, then your energy company will need to apply for a warrant before they can gain entry to your home and enforce a switch. This can be a lengthy process and come with cost for the energy company.

If you have a smart meter, this can all be done remotely and can be done within minutes rather than months.

Some other concerns I have seen from forums include “bursts of radiation” as the meters use wireless technology. However, you would do well in modern society to avoid wireless networks and there’s no evidence to prove that smart meters are dangerous.

Some people have expressed concerns that the meters could be hacked. This could allow potential burglars to know when people are in or out due to their energy consumption. I would think though, that if somebody could hack this kind of technology, they could make far more in computing rather than popping around to your house and stealing your microwave.

Another “issue” is the worry that a smart meter will add to the amount of information being collected about you by big companies.

In all honesty, none of the above concern me enough to avoid having a smart meter. But I don’t like to dismiss other people’s concerns, so if any of the above worries you, I would avoid having a meter fitted.

The only real downside for me is that if you have an older unit (known as a SMETS1 meter). These have compatibility issues and don’t work with all suppliers. So if you switch energy companies, your smart meter will lose its smart functionality and becomes ‘dumb’. Unfortunately, it’s estimated that over 12 million of these meters were installed before SMETS2 was introduced.

SMETS1 vs SMETS2

As I’ve just touched on, there are two types of meters – SMETS1 and SMETS2. SMETS stands for Smart Metering Equipment Technical Specifications. SMETS1 was the first generation of smart meters and they were installed from 2013. The issue with this type of meter meant that it wouldn’t necessarily work if you switched to a new supplier – so it technically lost all of its main features.

SMETS2 is the second generation of smart meters and and were introduced in 2017. They don’t have the same issue and can be used with all energy suppliers.

Are smart meters compulsory?

No, having one installed is completely optional. If your energy company contacts you and you don’t want one, just say no. The only exception is when your current meter is faulty or at the end of its life and your supplier tells you it cannot be replaced with a traditional one.

So, are smart meters good?

I’ve actually changed my mind about how good smart meters are over the last few years. When I originally wrote this post around 2017, I wasn’t impressed and thought the benefits were fairly minimal.

But as energy costs have risen sharply in recent times, it’s become more important that we focus on how much gas and electricity we use. New smart meters really help users figure out how to lower their bills, which can only be a good thing. Even a small reduction in usage can mean big savings in costs. And even if you’re not that bothered by the expense, reducing your energy usage has a positive environmental impact and means lower carbon emissions.

Finally, it means receiving accurate billing and no need to submit meter readings every month. This should stop customers from building up a big credit or debit balance.

If you are interested in finding out more, visit the gov.uk site. Alternatively, take a look at your energy supplier’s website or give them a call.

If you want to find out more about saving energy, take a look at cutting your electricity bills or save money on your heating costs.

How to read a smart meter

Reading a smart meter is very simple to do:

1. Press 9 on the keypad.
2. For gas smart meters, you will see VOLUME, followed by 6 digits. This is your current reading and you only need to take the first 5 digits.
3. For electric meters, you will see IMP KWH, followed by 8 digits. You will only need the first 7 for your reading.

If your meter has Economy 7 (see FAQ below):

1. Press 6 on the keypad.
2. The screen will possibly show BOOST VARIABLE followed by ACT RATE.
3. For night and off-peak hours you’ll then see IMP R01 followed by 8 digits. You need the first 7.
4. For day and peak hours you’ll see IMP R02 followed by 8 digits. Again, you just need the first 7.

FAQ