Why Smart Meters Are Required To Track Energy Usage?

Functioning smart meters

Smart meters have been already introduced and gradually houses are getting their traditional meters replaced with smart meters. Slowly but certainly all houses and properties across Australia are installing smart meters. Let’s understand the functioning of smart meters and their advantages.

Smart Meter

Smart meters give you and your energy retailer with close to real-time insight into your energy usage. Thus, smart meters are power-monitoring devices that replace traditional electricity meters. There may be slight differences, but at their heart smart meters all perform the same way – they record and send energy usage statistics to your electricity provider to measure the amount of electricity your property ingests. For instance: Energy smart meter installed on the wall displays usage rates and options. This real-time processing gets rid of the outdated model of estimated readings (i.e. basing your energy usage and bill on what it was for the same period last year), giving you with more precision and confidence about your bills.

smart meters

This also reveals a whole world of possibilities in terms of power consumption management and electricity pricing – most likely leading to cheaper bills! Different types of electricity meters are available on the market, and the precise model you have in your home will depend on your energy provider, state regulations and other factors.

The Functioning of a Smart Meter

Smart meters function through a 3-step process:

After every 30 minutes, the smart meter measures the electricity consumed by your property. These details are transmitted to your energy supplier, giving them up-to-the-minute snapshots of their customers’ electricity usage.
Your energy provider also gives you access to this data, through in-home displays or web portals associated with your smart meters.
This detail facilitates you to get a thorough understanding of your energy usage patterns and aids you to figure out ways you can lower electricity intake and consequently save on your power bill.

How Can A Smart Meter Save You Money?

Smart meters provide you with more options for saving money – mainly, via electricity tariffs. Basically, it can be most expensive to ‘buy’ from the retailer when electricity demand is high (i.e. weeknights) and it costs less when the demand is low. While conventional meters were only read once per quarter and your energy retailer won’t know at what time of the day you used energy all through the billing period. So you can only access single rate tariff – which is a standard rate for electricity regardless of what time of day or night you use it. However, with smart meters, you’ll have access to time of use tariffs, as your provider will have the capability to monitor your energy usage all through the day and night and charge accordingly.

how smart meters helps you

Tips To Optimise Your Energy Usage for Maximum Savings

Whenever possible, make use of shoulder periods that are measured between peak and off-peak periods, which costs lesser than peak charges.
Refrain from heavy usage in peak periods (i.e. Monday to Friday evenings) by not switching on power-hungry appliances such as dishwashers, hot water heaters, clothes dryers, pool pumps, washing machines and ironing.
Use lower off-peak rates (e.g. before 2 pm on weekdays or overnight on Saturday and Sunday) by carrying out ironing or washing at these times.
Choose demand tariffs that measure how strongly you use electricity when you have a lot of appliances functioning at the same time; energy suppliers will base the charges on any one of the following:

An average of your peak demand usage over a period of time.
Altering demand tariffs for different seasons, such as higher in summer or winter.
The maximum point of demand your property attained for a specific period.

Advantages of Using a Smart Meter

Smart meters will benefit both customers and energy retailers, as there are many advantages attached to using a smart meter. A smart meter is one of the most efficient ways to keep track of your power consumption, enhance the level of service delivery your power distributor can offer, assist with a smooth shift to an off-peak electricity pricing plan, as well as, they can save you money on your energy bill. Additionally, it can access time of use tariffs to save money. There are other key advantages that you can reap when you use a smart meter, which includes:

energy usage smart meters

It Aids In Monitoring Your Energy Consumption

With the help of web portals and in-home displays, you can monitor your energy usage in real-time, which provide you with more control over your energy usage – for instance, it can aid you in identifying the best time and the worst time to use power-hungry appliances. Moreover, you can set up your system to obtain warning messages for extreme energy consumption. In addition, if you have set up a solar system, you can monitor the percentage of solar energy you’re utilising compared to the primary energy and accordingly change your usage pattern to reap the advantages of your solar panels.

Notice Outages & Faults In The Service

Your smart meter’s constant 2-way discourse between your household and your authorised energy retailer can assist your distributor to quickly notice if there are any flaws in the service. In the event of a blackout, this reduces downtime and aids streamline the reconnection process, making sure your provider can get your power up and running again as swiftly as is possible.

Execute Connections & Disconnections When Shifting Between House

Smart meters can carry out certain key tasks remotely on behalf of your energy supplier, like connecting and disconnecting your energy when moving house. This makes shifting house easier, faster and economical, as your meter is daily read (that means you don’t require waiting weeks or months to shift to a new retailer).

Set Timers To Your Smart Appliances

Well, when you use smart meters, you can set up a specific time for your appliances to start, or you can turn them on remotely to control power ingestion.

Conveying Vital Updates To Customers

Your smart meter is capable of acting as a simple device for communication. Energy suppliers can transmit public warnings about main power outages in your region and the approximate restoration time.

Eliminates the need for manual meter readings

The major function of a smart meter is to carry your household’s power usage levels to your electricity supplier. The Department of Industry, Innovation and Science mentioned that households having smart meters need not pay for periodic manual readings anymore. Conversely, a remote smart meter reading may attract only a minimal charge.

Get In Touch With the Experts

Eris Electrical is specialists when it comes to smart meter installation. If you haven’t installed a smart meter at your property yet, then contact us today and get a smart meter installed at your property right away!