What is a smart meter

Smart meters are the latest type
of gas and electricity meters.

Gas and electricity suppliers are
replacing older meters with smart
meters across Great Britain.

There is no extra cost to have a
smart meter put into your home.

Smart meters record how much
gas and electricity you use.

They come with a display screen
you can use if you want to.

The display screen shows how
much gas and electricity you
use and how much it costs.

Smart meters send gas and
electricity readings straight to
your energy supplier.

This means you get an accurate
bill instead of an estimated bill.

An accurate bill shows how much
energy you have used.

An estimated bill is when your
energy supplier guesses how
much energy you have used.

Your gas and electricity readings
are sent in a safe way using our
network called DCC.

You can find out more about how
smart meters send readings on the
DCC website.

Smart meters also come with a
display screen you can use if
you want to.

The display screen shows how
much gas and electricity you
use and how much it costs.

Your energy supplier will contact you when they are ready to install a smart meter into your home.

Install means put a smart meter into your home and set it up so the smart meter and the display screen are ready to use.

Not everyone can get a smart meter yet. If you want to find out if you can get one, contact your energy supplier.

Your energy supplier might use a different company to install your smart meter. If they use a different company, they will tell you.

Smart meters have 2 parts:

• smart meter
• display screen

Smart meters are replacing older meters across Great Britain.

Smart meters send gas and electricity readings straight to your energy supplier.

The display screen shows how much gas and electricity you use and how much it costs.

If you rent your home and pay for your gas and electricity yourself, you can ask to get a smart meter.

You should tell your landlord before you ask to get a smart meter.

Your landlord is the person who owns the home you rent.

Not all homes can get a smart meter yet. If you want to find out if you can get one for your home, contact your energy supplier.

Smart meters can help you have more control over how much you spend on energy

Smart meters come with a display screen you can use if you want to.

The display screen shows how much gas and electricity you use and how much it costs.

The display screen can help you track how much energy you use in your home.

You can use this information to make small changes around your home to help you use less energy and save money.

Smart meters help reduce Great Britain’s carbon footprint

Reduce means make smaller.

A carbon footprint is the amount of harmful gases put into the air by a person or a group of people when things like oil and gas are burned to make energy

As soon as you get a smart meter installed, you are helping to reduce Great Britain’s carbon footprint.

This is because smart meters are important part of a plan to make our energy system better for the environment.

The environment means everything around us including the air, water, plants and animals.

Information from smart meters can help us find ways to use types of energy that are better for the environment, like wind or solar power.

If you have a smart meter and you switch your energy supplier, you do not need to get a new smart meter.

If you have a type of smart meter called SMETS2, you should be able to switch your energy supplier without any changes to your meter readings, bill payments or energy supply.

If you have a type of smart meter called SMETS1, you might need to send your meter readings to your old and new energy suppliers when you switch.

There is no extra cost to get a smart meter and the display screen. You will not have an extra amount on your bill.

The costs to run and look after smart meters are spread out across the bills of all the people who have them. This is the same as costs for the older type of meter.

The display screen shows:

● how much gas and electricity you use and how much you spend on energy for each hour, week and month

● if you use a small, medium or large amount of electricity

● updates about how much electricity you use, as you use it

● updates about how much gas you use, every half an hour

Smart meters can work for credit and prepay customers.

Credit means you get a bill after you use your energy

Prepay means you pay as you go to use your energy

If you are a prepay customer with a smart meter, you might be able to get special prices for your energy called time-of-use-tariffs.

Time-of-use-tariffs help you save money if you use more or less energy at certain times.

If you are a prepay customer with a smart meter, the display screen shows:

● how much credit you have

● how much emergency credit you have

● how much your debt is, if you have a one

● if your credit is low

Credit means how much money you have left to use.

Emergency credit is a type of credit you can use when the credit you’ve paid for runs out.

Debt means how much money you owe. For prepay meters, it means you did not have enough credit to pay for something, like a standing charge.

Data is information, numbers and facts about a subject.

The data we collect from your smart meter is protected by the law.

The law means the official rules for a country that protect the people who live there.

You can decide some things about how you want us to look after your data.

You can decide:

● how many times each month your smart meter sends data to your energy supplier

● if you agree to share data from your smart meter with other organisations

● if your energy supplier can use data from your smart meter to help with marketing

Marketing is what businesses do to help them get more customers.

Smart meters only give data about how much energy you use.

Personal information about you, like your name, address or bank account, are not kept on your smart meter.

If you are worried about smart meters, read our information called Myth busting smart meter problems.

Smart meters are safe and the way they are installed is safe.

All smart meters meet safety rules for the UK and the EU.

Smart meters are put into homes by installers with the right training.

The rules for installing smart meters are shown in the Smart Metering Installation Code of Practice