Smart Meters – a weapon for consumers in the fight
against rising energy bills
Domestic energy meters are the latest piece of home technology to become computerised. The Government's vision is for every home in Great Britain to have smart energy meters, giving people far better information about, and control over, their energy consumption than they have today. Research by McKinsey has found that if existing technologies were fully used, homes could reduce energy (gas and electricity) consumption by 35 to 40 percent. Achieving these savings would require a smart meter (one containing a computer) in the home that gives households the information to choose the cheapest consumption patterns, controls domestic appliances and enables cost-saving tariffs.
The Esri UK Smart Energy Consumer Choice (SMECC) Indicator has been developed to show where the homes that stand to benefit the most from a smart electricity meter can be found. The smart map below shows how different local authority districts and cities in the UK score on the SMECC indicator.
Households have a high SMECC score for one of two possible reasons. Either they have high electricity consumption per head meaning that they have a lot of scope for making consumption choices. Or the electricity bill is a relatively high proportion of income, meaning that reducing the bill is a top priority. Either way, a smart meter would benefit the home.
Whilst the Government has mandated that energy retailers roll-out smart meters between 2015 and 2019, both energy retailers and network operators stand to benefit too. Smart meters will provide the information that firms need to operate more efficiently and help them meet their carbon reduction targets too. Roll-out planning is a complex problem requiring geographic analysis of many different spatial variables; by using geographic intelligence technology utilities can optimise their roll-out plans. For more information download the Esri UK white paper on smart metering. To speak to someone at Esri and find out more contact us.
