Why get a smart meter?

As well as helping to create a more efficient energy system, smart meters have lots of practical benefits for you, including:

Automatic meter readings. You no longer have to manually submit meter readings, or wait in for a meter reader to come over. Your meter readings will be sent to Good Energy automatically.
Accurate and predictable bills. You can view exactly what energy you’re using and how much it’s costing you, via the Good Energy app. This means that your bill will never be based on estimated data, and it won’t come as a surprise.
Understand your energy usage in real time. A smart meter is a very good tool to help you to keep an eye on your energy consumption and spot ways to prevent energy waste. For example, you may notice that an older appliance uses a lot of electricity and that it may be more cost effective to upgrade it.

Yes, inevitably a smart meter does use some energy to function. Our providers have confirmed this is around 1.3 watts per hour – or about the same as leaving a television on standby. As smart meters allow us all to control our energy usage much more easily, the benefits will outweigh the very small cost.

Some of the components for smart meters will be manufactured abroad, but factories in the UK are likely to be doing the final assembly and technical configuration of the millions of meters that will be needed for the rollout.

Smart meters make it easier for us to identify where we’re using a lot of energy and might want to make changes to reduce it. They’re also a crucial step towards the development of the smart grid, a whole new way of running our energy network. Energy suppliers will be better equipped to plan and manage Great Britain’s electricity and gas, and match supply and demand.

In the future, we can look forward to being rewarded with cheaper tariffs at off-peak times. This means we will pay less to mow the lawn or run the washing machine when electricity is not in high demand. It will also mean less pressure on the grid at busier times when we’re all cooking our dinner, or putting on the kettle during the TV advert breaks.

Smart meters use low-frequency radio emissions to communicate the information they collect, in a very similar way to other wireless electronic devices like mobile phones.

Public Health England, an executive agency of the UK Department of Health, has collated various studies, reviews and assessments to measure the effect of smart meter radio waves.

They have concluded that:

• All the evidence so far suggests that the radio waves produced by smart meters don’t pose any risk to the health of people who have them in their home.
• Smart meters aren’t communicating all the time – just in occasional short bursts when they’re actually sending the supplier information. You would get higher exposure to radio waves from any device you use closer to your body, which emits more power and which transmits for more of the time – such as a mobile phone.
• If you’d like more details, please take a look at the Public Health England (PHE) guide to smart meters.

The smart meters that we install are as safe as possible and are fully covered by both UK and EU product safety legislation. This means that they have had to undergo rigorous testing to make sure they are stable and secure so as not to put our customers in danger.

Smart meters use low-frequency radio emissions to communicate the information they collect, in a very similar way to other wireless electronic devices, like mobile phones and televisions. Using a mobile phone gives you greater exposure to radio waves than living with a smart meter.

The first generation of smart meters launched a few years ago. At Good Energy, we decided not to offer these to our customers because they had some technical problems – such as stopping working properly if the customer changed supplier.

Instead, we decided to wait until the arrival of second generation smart meters. This upgraded smart meter works in the same way as the earlier model, with the added freedom to move between suppliers. This is what we will be installing in your home.

Your old meter will be refurbished and installed in properties that can’t have a smart meter. Meters that have reached the end of their life will be recycled for parts.

Your smart meter sends readings to us automatically using the secure Wide Area Network (WAN) run by the Smart DCC (Data Communications Company). This network was purpose-built just for UK smart meter communication. We collect information about your energy usage so that you can provide you with accurate bills. You can see information about your energy usage via your IHD.

You shouldn’t ever need to read your smart meter, but just in case we’ve included information on how to do this in our IHD guide.

You may experience a change in your bills after installing a smart meter if you’re replacing a particularly old meter that wasn’t working efficiently, or if you were previously billed on estimated usage.

If you have concerns about your meter readings, monitor your energy usage via your IHD to check how much energy you’re using and if you can make efficiencies.

Your smart meter will continue to work. We always install second generation smart meters which allow you to change between suppliers.

Smart meters are beneficial to the environment in several ways. We explain all of this on our blog post.

If you’re moving home, please let us know as soon as possible before you move. We’ll clear your smart meter and IHD of all consumption information and we’ll take a final remote meter reading so you’re only charged for the energy you use. Make sure you leave your IHD behind for the new occupier as it will only work with the smart meter in this property.

If you moved into a property without a smart meter and you’d like one, call us and our team can book a smart meter installation for you.

Good Energy is working with independent research company Accent to ask for customer feedback on their smart meter installation. Accent are contacting a selection of customers who’ve had smart meters installs to ask them to complete a short survey. The survey takes about five minutes and helps us check your installation complied with regulations, as well as make sure our service is as good as it can be. If they contact you, there’s nothing to be concerned about. We would really appreciate it if you could complete the survey as it will help us understand what’s working well and whether there’s anything we need to improve.

Your smart meter has information about how much gas and electricity you’ve used, but doesn’t store other personal information that could identify you, such as your name, address or bank account.

All this information about your energy use is strongly protected. The law, which is explained in the Energy UK Data guide for smart meters, puts strict controls on your data, who can access it, and how you choose to share it.

You can decide:

• how often your smart meter sends data to your gas and electricity supplier (monthly is minimum, daily or half-hourly are also options.)
• whether to share data about your energy use with other organisations, like switching sites
• if your supplier can use your meter readings for sales and marketing purposes

The more frequently we retrieve your readings the more personalised and detailed the information will be. This is why we recommend you choose half hourly readings.

You can change your meter read frequency at any time by calling in to our customer care team on 0345 034 2400  or emailing hello@goodenergy.co.uk

A smart meter won’t capture your personal data. The only information a smart meter sends out is related to your energy usage and this data is encrypted to a very high standard. Only you and your energy supplier will be able to view the data.

Your data is secure in the smart meter system. For a start, no details of your name, address or your bank account or any other financial details are stored by your smart meter. The only information stored on it is how much gas and electricity you’ve been using and what tariff you’ve chosen.

Any data that is stored on your meter belongs to you. No one can have access to that information without your permission, and none of your information is transmitted via the internet. Instead, smart meters have their own secure, dedicated communications system that employs technology widely used by industries including the banking industry.

Your supplier will not use any data from your smart meter for sales and marketing purposes, unless you’ve given them permission to do so. We will not share your energy information with any other third party for their marketing purposes.

The smart meter system is very secure and smart meters are not dangerous. Security has been at the heart of the whole smart meter rollout programme from the very beginning, and the system has been specifically designed to prevent hacking.

Smart meters aren’t connected to the Internet, and they have their own closed, dedicated communications system. Smart meters have been designed with top cyber security experts, including the government and GCHQ, to ensure that security best practice has been incorporated at every stage.

We handle your data according to energy industry guidelines, which cover the information we collect from your smart meter and who we share it with.
Your rights and choices over how we collect and share your data
Read our smart meter data guide (PDF) to find out what rights and choices you have over how we collect and share data from your smart meter. This guide uses content produced by Citizens Advice, and Energy UK (the trade association representing the UK energy sector) and its members. If you ever want to change how often we receive your smart meter readings, let us know by emailing hello@goodenergy.co.uk.