Despite your "If I need it I need it ", you've clearly done work on reducing your bills though LL, and you already have a good understanding of where it's going - many don't. I'm not suggestion a smart meter assists much but that basic level of understanding would save a lot of people a lot of money.
In themselves, smart meters may not enable that much right now, in the same way as smart motorways don't. But it starts to bring potential for some genuine efficiencies ( I suppose for the producers/suppliers as much as the end user) with time-of-use tariffs.
I've got the Octopus 4 hour cheap rate overnight and I charge the car in that time - 7.5p per unit v. 36.5. Quit a saving, and pushing me to use the grid when the electricity is at it's cheapest. I also do other heavy duty stuff like run the dishwasher and the washing machine during that time but they may eventually prevent you doing that, who knows? There are smarter tariffs which charge your car in separate half hour slots determined on a daily basis by Octopus, based around your stated requirement for percentage availability at certain times. Then you have the upcoming V2H and V2G electric cars which will act as a battery for your house or the grid - I believe this will depend on smart metering though it must also be driven by the car charging kit. Anyway suffice to say that there's more to them than just knowing when your energy is being consumed.
|
