Fancy a smart meter?

Big advertisements shouting from the rooftops - I’m saving money and the planet at the same time - wonderful. I’m in. But wait what the ‘eck is it? Oh smart meters. Well, what’s it all about then? How do you actually save money and the planet with a smart meter? Eh, tell me and I’m still in.

A meter is a meter, yes? So, it measures my electricity usage. Brilliant so far, my present meter does just that. Do I want to know how much money I spend on electricity? Well, maybe. Our household is not particularly extravagant with the leccie. We use the normal amount of lighting, switch off where not needed, even with grandchildren romping all over the place from time to time. The usual Wi-Fi systems etc etc. We have lamps with LED bulbs where possible of 10amp and no more than 24amp.

The biggest is a fluorescent in the kitchen of 60amp. So, in real terms we are pretty low users anyway. So, let’s have a look at the claims – an average user with a smart meter saves enough energy to make 26,473 cups of tea a year, 71% of people with a smart meter would recommend one to others and if we all got a smart meter the CO2 savings would be equal to taking 600k cars off the road. Wow, some claims that. First of all these claims are just complete guesswork, in fact possibly untrue.

Friends, this is just a meter that just shows how much you are using with the price next to it. The only thing you can say about it is that you will get a headache looking at the pennies accruing. That may make you try to switch the heating off and sit in the cold. So in that way yes you are saving the planet but are dead. So sorry, I’m out!