With so many appliances all over the house, and depending on the season, if you’re cranking the air conditioning or the heating, you might think that staying on top of your energy consumption is an uphill battle. But that’s where smart electricity meters come in.

What is a smart meter?

Smart meters generally have a digital face with numbers or digits that represent your current read data and electricity consumption. In Victoria, smart meters are in place in all homes.  

Basic or analogue meters generally have a dial that spins around, recording your consumption in kWh. Your meter reading will increase based on this.

You can use your smart meter in conjunction with our Tracker app to monitor your energy use and get weekly reports sent straight to your inbox. You could also invest in a home-display which will make it possible for you to monitor and check your household energy use by showing the data from your smart meter.

Smart meters can’t save you money on their own, but by telling you more about where your energy is going, like helping you identify peak moments in the day, or high usage days of the week – they can help you compare week to week and month to month and be smarter about your usage.

Here’s are 5 ways installing a smart meter can help you save energy in your home.

Provides more accurate electric meter readings

Smart meters show your energy usage in real time. The data is then sent directly to your energy retailer, allowing them to charge you for your exact energy consumption without relying on manual readings – having someone physically come to your property to read the meter can lead to overestimations and errors. And with an in home-display, if you plug in an appliance, you’ll be able to see exactly how much energy that uses too!

Gives access to better electricity tariffs

Smart meters can give you access to different kinds of tariffs, such as time-of-use tariffs. With this kind of tariff, you’ll be charged more for your energy usage during peak times when there is more pressure on the electricity grid, and charged less when there is less demand on the grid.

With more awareness of your energy usage thanks to the smart meter, you can take advantage of off-peak hours to use more energy and potentially save more on your bills.

Read more about the different types of tariffs here. 

Encourages smarter energy saving habits

Having access to that real-time data is going to have a great effect on your home life. It can help you get out of bad habits that end up wasting energy and driving up the cost of your bills.

Research has shown that people who regularly look at the real-time usage data, change their habits and reduce their energy usage - which in turn saves them money*. It’s not a guarantee, but it can help you live cheaper and greener.

* https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/

Helps save the planet and reduces your carbon footprint

Being more aware of your energy consumption is the first step in living greener and more energy-efficient. Nobody wants to watch inefficient appliances sucking energy and increasing the cost of your bills.

Once you start monitoring the energy levels in your home, you’re more likely to start replacing your existing devices and appliances with ones that are far more energy efficient. And if you’re an ENGIE customer, your energy plan is 100% carbon neutral, certified by Climate Active too!

Helps you to understand solar feed in tariffs better

Having a smart meter is essential if you want to bring solar power to your home. It allows you to monitor the amount of energy you are generating from your panels, the amount of usage you get through, and what you are sending back to the grid.

All of this means you’ll be getting a truly accurate measurement of your solar feed-in-tariff, allowing you to manage your personal energy consumption and potentially earn more back from your solar energy collection.

Getting your smart meter installed

If you’re an ENGIE customer  and don’t have a smart meter at your home or property, you can upgrade to a smart meter for free.

Our smart meter partner, Intellihub, carry out the installation work on our behalf which takes around 30 – 60 minutes. You don’t even need to be home - we just need you to ensure that there is clear and safe access to your existing meter. The Intellihub Tech Tracker app will help you get all the information you need including steps to help you ensure clear access for technicians and tips to reduce any potential safety issues.

You’ll get a time and date, and you can even request changes to suit your schedule. Prior to the technician’s arrival you’ll get a reminder notice as well as info about your technician, their exact location and expected arrival time.

Your technician will provide photo evidence of the completed work, and you’ll get the chance to rate their work – helping to improve the service moving forward.

Any questions?

We’ve put together some FAQs to help you understand smart meters a little further. You can view them here.