There comes a time in your life when you realise that you are turning into your parents. I am now becoming like my Father. This isn't a bad thing, infact it is good for the environment and for our energy bills. My Dad is very aware of his energy consumption and will happily sit in a darkened room watching the TV rather than the switching on three additional lights like I do. A few days ago British Gas came and installed a smart meter in our house. A smart meter replaces your existing gas and electric meter. The "smart" bit is that your new meter sends your latest readings directly to British Gas so that you have accurate bills instead of estimates. It also provides you with a touchscreen box which allows you to view in pounds and pence how much gas and electricity you are using. British Gas are currently upgrading existing customers for
free. I booked a convenient day for them to visit and they phoned about half an hour before to tell me they were on the way (which is extremely handy if you need to pop out and do things.) For more information on the smart meters have a look at the video clip below:
So what have I found out from using the smart meter? For a start you are aware of how much energy you are wasting. I never really bothered about the odd light left on in an empty room before, but when you see it in pence on a screen it gets you thinking. I must also admit that I have previously been guilty of filling the kettle to the brim when it's just a cuppa for me. Now I know that boiling the kettle really makes that meter reading change so that won't be happening in the future. As you can see from the infographic below the average house could save £65 a year with a smart meter installed.
So if you are a British Gas customer and don't yet have a smart meter you can find out more information about registering for a free upgrade here. Are you careful about not wasting energy? Do you think this would really benefit you? What would you spend the money you saved on instead?
We were already British Gas customers, so the smart meter installation was free of charge, but I have been compensated for writing this post to raise awareness of their scheme.
30 comments:
We had the smart meter put in early last year and it's one of the older one's nothing as fancy as that....Does the same job though!
Mine has three lights which are green, amber and red.....It goes onto red when we're using a lot of electricity and gas.....Usually when I'm in the kitchen cooking tea the kids always mess about in the living room....For months I convinced the kids that when it went onto amber or red that the fairies and Santa were watching and it they didn't like how my two were behaving....hehehe
Yes ours has the traffic lights too. Why did I not think of the Santa thing? May come in handy on the lead up to Xmas. Just need to make sure that the tumble dryer and washing machine are on when they are naughty ;-)
Great review thanks!
fab review
Sounds like a great idea
It sounds like a good idea but how quickly can these go faulty and how would you know?
I have one of these. It's great for showing you how much energy you are using. I do into meltdown if the light goes red :) Unfortunately it is supposed to pass your usage directly onto the supplier and this function isn't working so we still have to have the meters read but I'm sure this is just a glitch. Overall it's a good idea.
They do sound like a very clever idea. We're not with British Gas though.
I know - now what shall I spend it on.....
Well I can let you know if mine packs up, So far so good. I imagine it would turn itself off?
I think it is a great reminder of how much everything you do impacts your overall bill. Give them a call - sounds like yours might need swopping
yeah that would be good thanks :) yh I suppose if the data doesn't change and the screen fades it's a sign that it's on it's way out.
Sounds like a good idea, thank you for the details
Thanks for the info. I'll sign up now.
Sounds like a good idea
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What a great idea. I wonder if other providers offer this?
good idea
Great idea x
Good idea.
What a great idea :o)
Great idea x
this looks great
Looks good
i try to be careful not wasting energy
I know I do waste energy a lot but I'm trying to cut down lol
I think although this a good idea for some, I think for me not so much I'd be checking it constantly ha
I think this is a great idea, to help families especially save money on their power bills, especially since the price hikes yet again! I'm not with British Gas, so would love to see these rolled out by other companies.
great idea to save money
fantastic idea
thank you
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