5 Reasons Why Your Business Needs single phase smart meter？

Having got a smart meter at home I am convinced that smart meters alone will not deliver significant energy savings in the domestic/residential sector. The smart meter is a ‘tool’ and it needs a 'crafts-person' to use it.

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On Friday I was schedule for a smart meter upgrade. The guy came to install and did a great job on the electricity meter – really impressed with how he worked. As for the gas, owing to the type of meter and its location a non-standard installation called for parts he did not have on the van – so a job for another day.

Meter installation complete I was then introduced to my In Home Display unit (IHD) with a 3 minute demo by the technician. This might have been longer if I had asked questions, but given my background I was happy with what I got. The IHD is a phone sized device that is mains powered with battery back-up, monochrome with some small LEDs. This comes with and 23 page, A6 handbook and a 27-page A5 guide. Now, this is where its gets interesting. I am an expert in energy management and my initial thought was I need to set some time aside to look at these. The first barrier to implementing savings.

Later on, I settled down with a nice cup of coffee, the books and the IHD. I now know all that it does except for one aspect that I am still working out!

So, where are my promised energy savings?

Arguably, if I do nothing and carry on as before I will increase my annual bill by about 20p – the cost of running the IHD. My second booklet does have energy saving advice – if I say the same as what you would expect for domestic energy saving – nothing wrong with that. But I could have implemented those ideas without the smart meter.

Currently, I have 6 days of data – so no real patterns yet but I have set a daily consumption target. The initial target is based on what I think an average day will be. Of course, I could set it average minus 5% to encourage me to save. But, if I were Jo Public what would I set it at?

I then started thinking is a daily target what I need? Perhaps I need a weekly target, or a monthly target but no option for those.

On the positive side, my utility company has not asked for this month’s electricity reading – a clear and obvious benefit. At the end on the next month I will compare my usage with the last dumb meter bill and I guess that will be my check that the meter is working correctly. I note there have been recent postings about the accuracy/reliability of smart meters, but I will just do this sense check at this stage.

As an energy professional I was keen to get ‘smart metered’, the actual meter is in and functioning and that is good. To be honest the display unit is a little disappointing, but what I have realised having the technology in home, as opposed to thinking about it in the abstract, is there only one thing that a smart meter will deliver without a smart person using it and that is more frequent and reliable meter readings.

If we are going to realise energy savings through domestic smart metering we really need to think about the user. We also need to think more about the human machine interface (HMI). Should the IHD be offered as an additional phone or tablet app, should it be possible to upload data to your PC? I am aware that these some of these options are already in the market place, but it looks like the IHD you are offered is linked to your metering provider – i.e. you get what they offer, no options. So, should there be options for the energy user to ‘upgrade’ the IHD? Perhaps this will be an option in a more mature market.

According to Smart Meter GB there will be 53 million smart meters installed in 30 million premises (domestic and business) by 2020 when the roll out is complete.

To date around 5 million meters have been installed. So less than 10% market penetration.

My conclusion is that the anticipated energy savings from smart metering are probably overstated. Sure, smart meters will lead to less estimated bills and hopefully more accurate billing.

The only way smart meters will deliver energy savings is if they are used by energy smart people.

The challenge is making ordinary people, energy smart people.

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When considering how you can improve your business’s energy consumption, something to consider is a smart meter. 

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Some businesses may already have access to a smart meter, but many are still using analogue energy meters. If you’re still unsure whether having a smart meter matters, here are some key reasons why a smart meter may be good for your business. 

Understand your energy consumption

A key benefit of smart meters is that they enable you to gain more understanding of your electricity consumption. 

A smart meter is a device that digitally tracks and monitors your electricity consumption, and this information is automatically sent to your energy retailer. 

A smart meter measures when and how much electricity is used on your premises, recording information every 30 minutes (or less). By accessing your real-time electricity data you can understand when you use the most electricity and the potential benefit from time of use tariffs. Smart meters can also reduce the chance of estimated billing, and as data is uploaded every day, allows you to work with your retailer to establish a preferred billing day, helping you manage your cash flow.

Next Business Energy offers an electricity insights portal. This means your smart meter can provide valuable information to help you manage your electricity consumption. Accessing your smart meter data via an energy insights portal can highlight your average daily consumption, compare your monthly invoice costs, compare your peak vs off-peak usage, and more. 

If you’re considering getting a smart meter, ask your current energy retailer if they offer an insights portal to help you gain control over your electricity usage.  

No more meter reader visits

Analogue electricity meters require manual reading by a meter reader, and if they can’t access your meter for whatever reason, they will estimate your electricity use. 

With a digital meter that is enabled to communicate with your distributor, your actual electricity consumption is recorded without anyone needing to come to your premises. If you get estimated bills, eventually a retailer is required under energy rules to get an actual reading, meaning appointments have to be set up and kept. Finally, when your bill is adjusted, you may find yourself with a much bigger bill than you expected. 

A smart meter can save you meter reading hassles, and unexpectedly large catch-up bills.

Better understand the energy needs of your business

With access to information on how and when your business uses electricity, you can better understand the electricity patterns of your business. 

Use information gathered via your smart meter to make adjustments to when and how you use electricity. Smart meters provide accurate detailed information about when you’re using energy. This can help you identify the best ways to improve your electricity efficiency. The data from your smart meter can enable you to see the results of switching off unnecessary appliances and also see the effects of using electricity draining appliances during various times of the day.  Electricity usage data can even help identify inefficient or faulty appliances.

A smart meter can also make it easier for you to ensure you’re getting the best price for your electricity plan, or perhaps indicate if you should switch to a better plan. 

Understanding your energy use helps you better manage costs and make savvy energy saving choices for your business. 

Minimise disruption 

When you install a smart meter, your electricity supply will experience a short disruption. Your energy retailer must give you at least four business days notification of this disruption, which tells you the date your meter is scheduled for replacement, as well as the time and length of any supply interruption.

Once installed however, smart meters may enable electricity distributors to detect faults and outages more quickly, which can help them locate issues faster to minimise disruption in the instance of a power outage. 

Connections and disconnections may also be faster and cheaper with smart meters, as unlike old analogue electricity meters, they may not require manual disconnections and reconnections.  

Speak to your energy retailer about installing a smart meter if you don’t already have one. For more information on how you can save on business energy, visit our blog on 5 ways to simplify your business energy costs.

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