Consumers less likely to recommend smart meters

The proportion of customers with a smart meter who would recommend it to others has fallen, according to the latest figures from Smart Energy GB.

However, the majority of customers – 79 per cent – would still recommend a smart meter, down 5 per cent from last year.

Smart Energy GB, which is in charge of communicating details of the smart meter rollout to the public, also revealed that 85 per cent of customers with a smart meter have a better idea of what they are spending on energy and 81 per cent think their energy bill is accurate, as opposed to 64 per cent who don’t have smart meters.

The data shows that smart meters are impacting energy use with 80 per cent of smart meter customers taking at least one step to reduce energy, such as turning lights off and turning the heating down.

A majority – 59 per cent – of consumers think that seeing how much energy they are using in pounds and pence is the most attractive benefit of smart meters, above accurate bills (43 per cent) and switching (12 per cent).

Smart Energy GB chief executive Sacha Deshmukh said: “Millions of people are benefiting from smart meters and are using them to help save money.

“We are still in the early stages of this national upgrade but those who have smart meters already are seeing a transformation. This year will see even more households and small businesses upgrade to smart meters.”

Smart Energy GB’s third smart energy outlook was compiled from more than 10,000 interviews with British consumers in November 2015.