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SMART METER ACCURACY: IS MY SMART METER ACCURATE?

With a smart meter, you won’t have to spend your time submitting meter readings or worrying about estimated bills. You’ll receive bills based on what you’re actually using. But if you’re concerned about just how accurate those bills will be, read on:

ARE SMART METERS ACCURATE: WILL YOU RECEIVE ACCURATE BILLS WITH A SMART METER?

Yes! With a smart meter, you’ll receive accurate, not estimated bills – meaning you only pay for the energy you use.

Smart meters use a secure smart data network to automatically send your meter reading to your energy supplier. This happens at least once a month, but you can request for your smart meter readings to be sent daily or half-hourly if you would prefer.

With these regular automatic meter readings, your supplier will be able to provide you with accurate bills. And you don’t even need to take a manual reading. Pretty smart, right?

When you get a smart meter installed, you’ll also be offered an in-home display. This is a handheld, portable screen that shows you exactly how much energy you're using in pounds and pence, in near real time.

GOT A SMART METER, BUT STILL RECEIVING ESTIMATED BILLS?

There are a couple of reasons you could be receiving estimated bills with a smart meter.

If you have recently had your smart meter installed, the first bill you receive after your installation may still be estimated. This is expected and should be fixed in time for your next bill. Following this, you should have accurate bills.

If you have received multiple estimated bills since requesting your smart meter, there could be another reason for this. For example, if you have a first-generation smart meter, you might begin receiving estimated bills if you’ve switched energy suppliers.

Some customers may find that if they switch suppliers their smart meter could temporarily lose smart functionality. If your first-generation meter does temporarily lose smart function, you may need to send in your meter readings in order to get an accurate bill (just as you would with traditional meters). This is a temporary situation and will be resolved by the end of the rollout. With one of the second-generation meters, you should be able to switch energy suppliers without any interruption to your energy readings, bill payments or gas and electricity supply.

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HOW ACCURATE ARE SMART METERS?

Smart meters are as accurate as traditional meters. By law, all smart meters have to be approved by and certified by the Office of Product Safety & Standards to prove their accuracy. If you believe that there's a fault with your smart meter you can report it to your energy supplier in the same way you do now. You can find your energy supplier using the tool above.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU’RE CONCERNED YOUR SMART METER IS NOT ACCURATE

If you think that the bills generated by your smart meter are not accurate

If you’re concerned that you’re receiving higher bills following a smart meter installation, it could be because you were previously receiving low estimates from your energy supplier, and your smart meter is now tracking your energy use accurately.

Old man sitting on couch with wheelchair in sight

For issues with electricity smart meters, if you have spoken to your energy supplier about your meter readings but are not satisfied, you can request an independent test of your meter.

The test is initially free, but you may have to pay your energy supplier for organising it if your meter is found to be working correctly. You can find out more from the government’s guidance on electricity meter accuracy testing.

If you think the information on your in-home display or your smart meter is not accurate

Your in-home display should show you how much energy you’re using in pounds and pence. They can also show your standing charge and VAT, but not all suppliers offer this. If you compare the amount of energy you’re using on your in-home display with your monthly or quarterly bill, you should see a relationship. Although your in-home display may not show any discounts or ad hoc charges.

Is my smart meter accurate? How to check

How do you know if your smart meter is accurate? If you’re concerned your in-home display isn’t showing the right information, for example, if you think your smart meter is showing the wrong tariff, you can first check the following:

Ensure the tariff information on your in-home display matches your tariff on your bill or new contract (including the tariff name, unit rate and standing charge)
Check that the meter readings on your in-home display are similar to the ones on your meters

If these are both showing correctly on your in-home display, then it will be presenting the correct energy usage data for your home.

If the meter readings don’t look similar, or if your smart meter is showing the wrong tariff, you’ll need to speak to your energy supplier to get this resolved.

But it is important to remember that, if you’ve just had your smart meter installed, it can take a little while for the in-home display to provide the right information. And the readings on it usually take a bit longer to update than the ones on your meters - this delay is normal.