Only 31 per cent of Britons Aware of Smart Meters

A recent survey by Populus has shown that 90 per cent of the UK is taking measures to reduce gas and electricity usage but only 31 per cent were aware of smart meters and the Government’s plans to roll out smart meters in every home by 2020.

On the positive side, the vast majority of consumers in the UK are trying to make a difference to their energy bills as well as the environment. People are being proactive about switching off unused electricity appliances, buying more energy efficient models of goods, such as dishwashers and televisions, and switching to long-life low energy light bulbs.

On the negative side, more than two thirds of the country is completely in the dark about smart meters and the huge benefits that they could have on reducing energy consumption once the Government starts installing them as standard in UK homes.

For the uninitiated, here is a little education on the innovation of smart meters. Smart meters are a devastatingly simple but ingenious idea to put energy conservation and monitoring in the hands of the people. The smart meter is an electronic device which replaces your normal analogue electricity and gas meters with a digital monitor which can gauge precisely how much electricity and gas is being consumed by a user, minute by minute.

Whilst the digitising of the current antiquated energy system will mean an end to estimates for gas and electricity consumption, the real bonus of smart meters is that consumers will be able to tell on a daily basis how much energy they are consuming. With daily updates on energy consumption and the cost of that consumption, home owners are more likely to take action to curb their energy use and make their homes greener.

Government estimates predict that smart meters will lead to an annual reduction of 2.6 million tonnes of carbon emissions by 2020, the same carbon footprint created by a million cars on the road. Smart meters are the future of gas and electricity conservation but the switch over will take time, in much the same way that the digital TV switch over took years to implement. This will benefit millions of people though – saving money on electricity bills and saving the environment.