This is a guest post by Andrew Buxton, Head of Metering at First Utility, the first energy company to introduce smart meters into UK homes. We asked First Utility to give you, our readers, an insight into the way smart meters work and the role they will play in helping you to reduce your energy bills. The views are First Utility’s and may not wholly reflect the views of compareandsave.com.

Energy bills and the increasing prices have resulted in energy being high on the agenda for many consumers. At First Utility we know from our own experience that customers want to be able to keep an eye on their energy bills to reduce spend in the long-term.

As an innovative and pioneering energy company we were the first to introduce smart meters to customers in the UK.  The reason smart meters have such as crucial role to play in the future is because they give you a way to monitor and control your own energy so whilst prices may fluctuate you can stay in control.

A smart meter works as a modern metering device which replaces the outdated ‘dumb meters’ that most UK households still use to measure energy usage.  The key difference is that they measure energy usage in a far more detailed manner. Smart meters remotely and automatically read energy consumption, sending the information back to the energy supplier. In the case of our smart meters, they take half-hourly readings for electricity and daily for gas, meaning that near real-time and 100% accurate usage information can be provided to the customer, guaranteeing that customers only ever pay for what they actually use.  One of our First Utility customers Abby Aron, summed smart meters up perfectly when asked how she felt about moving house from her smart metered home to a house without smart meter technology:

“Once you’ve had a spaceship you don’t want an old dinosaur,” she said.

At First Utility we are certainly seeing a real appetite for smart meters.  In recently commissioned research we conducted to highlight the day-to-day issues people face when it comes to their energy usage, over half (51%) those surveyed cited accuracy of information as one of the ways they would like their energy bill to be improved.  And more than four in ten (42%) people would find being able to access a greater level of detail on their energy usage and spend as an improvement. With a smart meter both of these issues are resolved.

Our smart meter roll out is progressing well, we now have over 20,000 smart meters installed in UK households and are continuing to see growing demand. Let’s not forget being able to measure what you’re using in the first place is a key part of any subsequent control.