It’s a good idea to install a smart meter at your business premises. This is because you can see exactly when and how you are utilizing your energy. Remember that understanding your energy usage can help you to find ways to reduce your energy bills. The good news is that your energy supplier can offer and install a smart meter at your business property, and this is done for free.
Even better, there are no service charges because the costs of these smart meters are included in the energy bills. If you decide to have a smart meter, then Utility Bidder can help you. They can even assist you to find cheaper energy markets on the market. This article discusses what you should know about smart meters.
Understanding a smart meter
A smart meter refers to an electronic energy meter that sends electricity and gas readings automatically to the energy supplier. As a result, your energy supplier can send you accurate energy bills. A smart meter that comes with a display screen can help you know your exact energy usage. This is because it can show how much energy your business is utilizing.
Smart meters are usually for domestic energy customers, but this doesn’t mean that business owners cannot install them. This is especially true if you want to implement energy efficiency measures in the workplace to reduce your business energy bills.
There are several benefits you can have by installing a smart meter. This includes having an accurate energy bill. This means that your energy supplier doesn’t have to estimate your energy bill and you don’t have to give your energy supplier your meter reading. This can save you money and time.
There is also real-time energy data that can assist you to find ways to lower your energy spending. Above all, you can secure a better energy deal. This is because your energy supplier knows the exact energy your business is using. Because of this, your current energy supplier can offer you a customized energy deal.
As explained earlier, it’s free to have a smart meter installed at your workplace. No wonder, many business owners are interested in having one. It’s worth mentioning that it’s not compulsory to have smart meters installed, though the government policy required energy suppliers to provide smart meters for all small business owners and homeowners.
Besides the regulation, most energy suppliers are pleased to supply smart meters because it can mean that they don’t have to estimate business energy usage. As a result, they can lower the operational costs by reducing the meter readers who visit businesses and homes.
How smart meters function
Each smart meter has three components. There is a smart meter for gas and another for electricity, which reads your energy usage. There is also a communication hub designed to transmit the readings to the energy supplier. Lastly, there is a smart meter energy monitor that can display the real-time energy usage that you can monitor.
Therefore, when you are using energy, real-time updates can be shown on the monitor. The up-to-date readings are then transmitted to your energy supplier. This means that you don’t have to spend time sending your meter readings. As a result, this can save you a couple of minutes every month, which is crucial if you have a tight schedule.
As discussed above, there is no upfront or direct cost to install a smart meter. The installation costs that energy suppliers incur can be recovered through price increases of your energy bills.
It’s worth mentioning that a smart meter sends energy readings to the energy supplier automatically. You can check these readings on your smart energy monitor. Keep in mind that each smart meter model tends to work a little differently, so it’s a good idea to contact your energy supplier for advice or you can check your user guide to get more information. Also, you may have to know how to read an electricity smart meter and a gas smart reader separately.
Privacy of your data
If you are worried about the data that your smart meter shares, you should note that you can choose the details that you want to share with your energy supplier. You can also decide how often they can get remote meter readings from the smart meter.
If you decide to reduce the amount of data your energy supplier views, then there are several things you can do. You should remember that sharing regular meter readings with the energy supplier can mean that they may have a good understanding of your energy usage. With this good understanding of when and how you utilize your energy, they can know a better energy deal for your business.
By default, the energy supplier can collect data from a smart meter at least once a month, though they can also take it regularly, such as half-hourly and daily readings if you want. In such cases, you need to contact your energy supplier before installing a smart meter. If you decide to change your mind, then you can change the meter reading preference whenever you want by just calling them.
When it comes to data protection, you should tell your energy supplier whether or not you are happy to have your information of the energy use shared with other entities like research firms who may contact you about your experiences with a smart meter. It’s also a good idea to find out the energy supplier’s marketing tactics. This is because they can use smart meter data to promote their other products.
In conclusion, your energy supplier can provide and install a smart meter for your business free of charge. To get a smart meter, you need to ask your energy supplier if they can offer you one. If they can, they can send someone to visit your business premises. This is the date when an engineer can fit your smart meter. The good thing is that smart meter installation usually takes at least an hour per smart meter.
