How do smart meters work?

Do smart meters use energy and will I be charged for it? 

Yes, a smart meter needs a small amount of energy to function. This is around 1.3 watts per hour – about the same as leaving a television on standby. As smart meters make it easier to control your energy usage, the benefits will outweigh the very small cost. 

Where are smart meters manufactured? 

Some of the components for smart meters are manufactured abroad, but factories in the UK take care of the final assembly and technical configuration.  

Do smart meters emit radiowaves? 

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. 

Are there health risks attached 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. 

What’s the difference between first and second generation smart meters? 

First generation (or SMETS1) smart meters were installed from around 2014 up until 2018. Issues were identified with them, such as them no longer transmitting readings automatically if a customer changed supplier. Good Energy decided not to roll them out to our customers for this reason. 

Smart meters installed since 2018 should all be second generation (or SMETS2). These upgraded smart meters give customers the freedom to move between different suppliers without losing their smart functionality. This is they type of smart meter we install.  

If you have an older SMETS1 meter, we may contact you about upgrading it or reconnecting it to the smart network.