Discussion - helping to make the most of your smart meter
Userlevel 2
I have recently been reading posts on Facebook about smart meters and there impact on our lives. We have had smart meters in since 7th April 2016 with Ovo. It took us a couple of months to get used to them and how to become more efficient with our energy useage. Since we have learnt how to be efficient with our useage and our daily tracking of the useage we have found them to be absolutely brilliant. I can now budget a month ahead as I am on PAYG+ and make sure that we have enough credit to last the month with a balance to spare. Since joining Ovo we have never been in the emergency and the 1 balance for both the gas and electric is superb. I think that people need to be supported more with the transition to smart meters and shown a way to monitor their daily consumption to be more aware of what uses what energy so they can be better aware of there useage. Does anyone have any ideas how we could do this to make the transition to smart meters a smooth and painless process? It has worked brilliantly for us now how do we get it to work for others? Together we could help many!!
Userlevel 6
+4
Hey
What would be your top 2 tips to others from your own transition to smart meters that helped the most? I'm thinking this can be the go - to topic on this for all forum users! What do you think
Userlevel 2
Hi Tim.
Going onto smart meters does not give us cheaper energy if we don't change our habits.
You need to give it time and learn how to be efficient in your use age. Monitor the apps and remember what you have used when your consumption is higher than you expect and if possible, cut back on the use age of that appliance.
Our greatest failing before the smart meters was the tumble dryer. We always used it no matter what the weather was like or what time of year it was. Now we have learnt to use other methods to dry the washing in the summer months which has considerably cut back on our expense. Also, if you have one, keep and eye on the IHD (In House Display) and look at the graphs when a particular item is in use. It's a huge eye opener when you look at the display and the use age graph is high.
We all have useful gadgets in our homes which are used for convenience which cost a lot over time. If we can learn to cut back on the use of these gadgets to when only necessary, it will make a small difference to our consumption on a daily basis but could save a considerable amount over the year.
I have tracked our use age since the smart meters were installed and can refer to what we were using a year ago, to the day, to what we are using now and our consumption has dropped because we have learnt what make a difference.
So we have to learn how to make a difference when the smart meters are installed to get the full benefit of using less energy and driving our costs down to benefit from the savings the smart meters can give us if monitored and used correctly.
Going onto smart meters does not give us cheaper energy if we don't change our habits.
You need to give it time and learn how to be efficient in your use age. Monitor the apps and remember what you have used when your consumption is higher than you expect and if possible, cut back on the use age of that appliance.
Our greatest failing before the smart meters was the tumble dryer. We always used it no matter what the weather was like or what time of year it was. Now we have learnt to use other methods to dry the washing in the summer months which has considerably cut back on our expense. Also, if you have one, keep and eye on the IHD (In House Display) and look at the graphs when a particular item is in use. It's a huge eye opener when you look at the display and the use age graph is high.
We all have useful gadgets in our homes which are used for convenience which cost a lot over time. If we can learn to cut back on the use of these gadgets to when only necessary, it will make a small difference to our consumption on a daily basis but could save a considerable amount over the year.
I have tracked our use age since the smart meters were installed and can refer to what we were using a year ago, to the day, to what we are using now and our consumption has dropped because we have learnt what make a difference.
So we have to learn how to make a difference when the smart meters are installed to get the full benefit of using less energy and driving our costs down to benefit from the savings the smart meters can give us if monitored and used correctly.
Userlevel 7
+2
Great discussion topic here,
From our side, we agree completely with you - smart meters and the features that go with them are a great way for people to see and understand their usage. Getting this usage reduced is then up to them!
We do what we can to help. OVO Answers is full to the brim with pages of advice on smart meters, IHD's and energy efficiency. Here's a few good ones:
https://www.ovoenergy.com/ovo-answers/topics/smart-technology/smart-meters/how-can-my-ihd-and-smart-meter-help-me-manage-my-energy-use.html
https://www.ovoenergy.com/ovo-answers/topics/payg/smart-payg/how-do-i-keep-track-with-the-ovo-energy-app-on-smart-payg.html
https://www.ovoenergy.com/ovo-answers/topics/energy-and-environment/environment/what-is-energy-efficiency.html
What do we think
Tim
Userlevel 7
+2
Userlevel 4
+1
don't know how to improve things, however fully agree that they ar brilliant, Wish I could understand why so many people are averse to moving over to them.
Userlevel 5
+3
I think a help card for people when they sign up with average usage costs for standard household items so people can compare easily and get them prices for usage down asap. If that makes sense?
Userlevel 2
Hi Aadil. That is a very good idea. I think the way could be provide details of items rated at 1kw and above which are considered medium to high use age. There would be far to many to list on a card so we could list the top 5 most popular items, whether portable of fixed. Then a useful tool to add to the ovo app would be a link to click on where you can put the make and model of an appliance and then the rating would appear giving the customer information of what there cost could be over a 2 hour period. There would be a cost involved in all of this but it can be off set by bringing customer bills down and becoming the supplier of choice to more consumers.
Userlevel 5
+3
Bro, your detail is amazing. Totally agree of course lol. The link in the app would be genius!
Userlevel 7
+2
Great topic and great conversation started here @Pete and well done for winning your power up badge by the way! Keep up the great work.
It will be good to see what others have to say on this one, smart meters are definitely a popular topic right now so good to see some debate on this!
Who's next? What do others think?
Darran
It will be good to see what others have to say on this one, smart meters are definitely a popular topic right now so good to see some debate on this!
Who's next? What do others think?
Darran
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