UK outline smart meter roll-out plan

Smart Meters UK

The British government has told all energy providers they are responsible for installing smart meters in every UK household by 2020.

The initiative is part of the government's plans to create an "intelligent grid" that allows appliances to be switched on and off automatically in order to take advantage of cheap off-peak power.

The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) expects the GBP£8 billion smart meter roll-out project to save UK energy users around GBP£28 per year by installing 47 million meters in 26 million properties by 2020, at a cost of about GOP£340 per household.

But the DECC says case studies had shown people could reduce their bills by about GBP£100 a year as the meters can encourage changes in behaviour.

Households can cut their energy use

The announcement comes just days before next weeks climate change summit in Copenhagen and is no doubt aimed at demonstrating that the UK is taking the threat to the environment seriously and is prepared to spend billions cutting greenhouse gases.

The idea is that households can cut their energy use through paying more attention to it as smart meters have a visual display showing customers exactly how much electricity and gas they are using and then relaying this data directly to the supplier.

Telecoms giants O2 and Vodafone are negotiating key roles the organisation responsible for receiving information on electricity and gas usage in every home and passing it on to energy companies. This organisation will initially be a collaboration between different companies pooling their resources together, but once the project is established it is likely to be sold off as a single company.

Fridges could be turned off during peak demand

The details of the full project, to be released soon by Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, will for the first time include plans for a smart grid that allows appliances to be used only when energy is cheap.

For example fridges could be turned off during peak demand and be automatically switched back on if the temperature inside rises too high. And in a few decades, when electric cars eventually become the norm on UK roads, smart meters could be used to control periods of high demand and low electricity supply.

Intelligent grids can take power from the batteries of plugged-in vehicles that are fully charged and divert it to the grid.

The UK is looking to follow in the footsteps of Germany, which has emerged as something of a pioneer for smart grid technology. A smarter grid to manage the flow of electricity will be absolutely vital for the future of Europe's energy plans as it looks to become ever more reliant on renewable energy sources.

Related Articles:

Samso: The energy self-sufficient island | Does coal have a future in the UK? | German smart grid revolution

Like this article? Get the RSS feed: