A report by SWNS Digital has revealed that UK smart meter owners have managed to save a combined total of almost £270 million on energy consumption alone since 23 March.
Across a study of 2,000 smart meter-owning Brits, each household estimated a £39.50 reduction in energy fees during the last three months of lockdown. This amounts to total savings of £268.6 million for the 1 in 4 UK homes that have a smart meter – over 21 million have already been installed across the country.
While installation was put on hold during the peak of the pandemic, the UK government has once again begun to push ahead with its plans to offer smart meters to every home and small business by 2025 – a deadline originally set for 2020, which has recently been delayed even further due to the disruption of the coronavirus crisis.
A recent statement by UK Minister for Climate Change, Lord Callanan, read:
“Smart meters are playing an important role in helping the UK deliver a cleaner and more efficient energy system, with the added benefit of also saving tens of billions of pounds in the process.
“By allowing households to conveniently track their energy use, and prepayment customers to more easily top-up credit, we are working with industry to safely install even more across the country in a way that keeps consumers and suppliers safe.
“Since lockdown restrictions started easing, engineers have begun undertaking non-emergency installations of smart meters again in accordance with published guidance on safe working in other people’s homes”.
The government has estimated that the cost of installing smart meters across the UK could reach a hefty £11 billion, but is expected to be offset by more than £17 billion in energy savings.
The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has estimated that smart meters could save Brits up to £250 per year, and potentially slash carbon emissions by 45 million tonnes – the equivalent of 26 million less cars on the road for an entire year.
In addition, the SWNS’s report found that 56% of smart meter owning Brits have adopted other money-saving methods to cut costs during the pandemic, including upcycling furniture and meal planning for the week ahead.
31% said that they believed lockdown has offered them a unique opportunity to build on their savings. 3 in 10 also stated that they have learned to be more resourceful in response to supermarket shelves left bare due to panic-buying, and with more than 1 in 4 UK employees furloughed and on a reduced income.
Bill Bullen – CEO of Utilita, the UK’s leading Pay-As-You-Go energy firm – which carried out the research, commented:
“One thing which is clear from this research is that the majority of smart meter owners are both frugal with their money and smart with their spending, having adopted a number of methods to save cash. These simple tricks mean owners can have a little more disposable income to enjoy.
“But I’m deeply concerned that tens of millions of consumers without smart meters are completely in the dark over their household energy usage.
“Sadly, there is still a lot of education that needs to be done by suppliers and government. The advantages of smart meters are not widely known, which means Brits are missing out on the financial and environmental benefits”.