Are smart meters bad for your health?
Many people wonder whether smart meters can be good for our health – due to the way they transmit data using radio waves. We want to reassure you that no evidence has been found to suggest that exposure to smart meter radio waves poses a risk to health.
What’s more, we hope the benefits of supporting a more efficient, cleaner and greener energy system will still encourage you to have one installed.
Here’s everything you need to know about how smart meters transmit data and whether they have an impact on your health.
How do smart meters transmit data?
Smart meters use low frequency radio waves to send information to your energy supplier and to your In-Home Device (IHD).
This is similar to the way that other wireless devices such as mobile phones communicate.
Read more about the type of data that smart meters transmit here.
Do smart meters impact people’s health?
The simple answer is no, the radio waves emitted by smart meters don’t pose any risk to your health.
They don’t emit radio waves all of the time, only when they are communicating with your energy supplier to send your meter readings. Let’s compare this to your mobile phone, which is fetching and sending data a lot more often than a smart meter is. These devices are often closer to your body than the smart meter will be (which is typically installed on the exterior of your home), so you’ll get a higher exposure to the radio waves from mobile phones than you will from smart meters.
Public Health England has done extensive research into any effects that smart meters may have on people’s health by testing people’s exposure to radio waves from a range of different smart meters. They found that the exposure to radio waves from smart meters is much lower than that from mobile phones or Wi-Fi routers. Through these tests they have concluded that there is no risk to people’s health, as the levels of exposure are well below the guideline levels.
All smart meters go through many tests to ensure they are stable and secure, and they are covered by UK and EU product safety legislation.
