Smart meters are currently being promoted, but what are they and should you go for one just yet?
1. Smart meters replace the electricity and gas meters you already have, and send meter readings direct to your supplier. They also wirelessly connect to a small at-home display showing your energy consumption.
2. You don't have to have one, but will be offered one at some point.
3. You won't be among the early group being offered a smart meter if you have poor mobile phone coverage or use a pre-pay meter or Economy 7 meter.
4. What saves the most money is switching supplier. While you can still switch with a smart meter, you will probably lose a lot of the smart abilities because SMETS-1 type meters use normal mobile broadband from an internal SIM.
5. However, SMETS-2 meters (planned to be introduced soon) will use a secure national network called DCC to which all providers have access - so there won't be a problem switching.
Verdict: Wait for SMETS-2 meters.
Source: 10 July 2018 UK Smart Meters report (the-ambient,com)
