Home

Smart meters - helping consumers save on energy bills

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Click here to read information on the status of Community Action Norfolk's Services. As well as links to other information and advice
This website uses cookies. You can read more about how we use your personal data in our Privacy Notice

It indicates this on a handy in-home display - so the smart meter doesn't itself save you money but it does show you how you can save money by changing the way you use appliances around the house. 

Once you have a smart meter, you’ll only get accurate bills from your energy supplier, just as you do with your phone bill. The meter automatically sends the reading to your energy supplier, so you receive accurate, not estimated bills. No more estimated bills. No one from an energy supplier having to come and read your meter and there’s no extra cost to you the householder. Find out more here.

At CAN we believe in equality and fairness for across the communities of Norfolk. So we’ve been working with the ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England) and industry experts Smart Energy GB national network to raise awareness of the roll-out of smart meters.

There have however undoubtedly been problems with the national roll-out programme. The parliamentary Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee has questioned Climate Change Minister Lord Duncan of Springbank, along with Ofgem and the Data Communications Company (DCC), about the lack of progress made installing domestic smart electricity meters. The proposed new target is for smart meters to be installed in 85% of UK homes by 2024 and the committee will be investigating how realistic this target is.

For rural areas of Norfolk there are also issues around lack of digital connectivity. Essentially, if you don’t have a wi-fi signal a smart meter won’t work for you right now. As broadband connectivity improves and reaches further across the county, then smart meters will become more viable in all parts of Norfolk.

Talking of broadband connection, if you have difficulty getting a broadband connection where you live, check out CAN’s ThinkingWISP wireless service to find out why you don’t need to wait for fibre cables to be installed where you live! It might also mean you could have a smart meter sooner than you think