Any householder who has been on a prepayment meter for any period of time can likely tell you the cost, and value, of every penny of energy in their homes. I know that in my old, draughty flat in Southend-on-Sea last year, it cost me 3p to boil a large saucepan of water, 45p to run a bath, and 22p to have a satisfying shower, but even a fiver wouldn’t take the edge off the cold wooden floors and rattly, louvre windows. But for monthly billed consumers, that cost breakdown is thrown out of the window, and an arbitrary figure pulled from seemingly thin air.
Research by Smart Energy GB, an independent non-profit communications company, shows that almost nine out of 10 people have taken steps to use less energy after having a smart meter installed. It’s easy to see why: it’s not until you can accurately track your spending that you really see the true cost of everyday activities, and realise how much it actually costs for you to cook your food. Smart meters show you how much you are spending on your energy as you use it – clearly in pounds and pence. What’s more, they send readings to your energy supplier so that you don’t get stung by those often inaccurate estimated bills.
I wrote in 2012, in the pits of absolute poverty as a single mum to an 18-month-old child, about unplugging the fridge and unscrewing the lightbulbs, “turning off the oven, so even the flashing LED display is no longer leaking vital pennies of electricity”. This example is extreme, but has affected my behaviour around energy consumption even today.
The kettle, the toaster, the TV – I still fastidiously unplug devices and turn off plug sockets when not in use, put a jumper on before the heating (and sometimes a hat, too!), and can often be heard bellowing up the stairs at whoever absent-mindedly left the bathroom light on.
I have become my father, muttering, “If you leave the bloody room, turn the bloody light off” as I click the switch with a huff, but I can make £10 worth of energy last a fortnight if I have to, because I have a forensic understanding of what every penny of that £10 can get.
On a national scale, understanding how individual households use energy will allow the National Grid to develop smarter working practices, more accurately forecast energy use and decrease the risk of blackouts. If we all become more aware of energy cost-cutting, we could become less reliant on procuring energy from abroad. On top of that, the increased transparency will encourage the big six energy suppliers to be more competitive on price tariffs and services, making it more worthwhile to switch supplier for a better deal for your household.
On a household level, having a smart meter means that the often invisible, or rather, obfuscated, cost of cooking your food, of heating and lighting your home will be more transparent, and also more fair. Estimated bills have no place in a society that has endowed us with the technology to watch a man bob around in a space station while we sit in the bath.
As the gulf between the cost of living and the stagnation in wages continues to yawn wider, we need to take the savings where we can, and taking the opportunity to wrest control of our energy consumption is not only good for our wallets and our homes, but also for the environment, and the wider world.
To keep track of how much your cooking is costing you in energy, contact your energy supplier about getting your smart meter at no extra cost. If you’re not sure who your supplier is, there are helpful ways of finding out at smartenergyGB.org/suppliers.
