Millions of households in Great Britain now have smart meters including an in-home display (IHD) which shows actual energy consumption in kWh and pounds and pence. Research from Smart Energy GB and the University of Essex provides clear evidence that consumers use this technology to understand their energy consumption and take action to reduce their energy bills and impact on the environment.
Despite the success of the IHD (or maybe because of it?), the industry is now looking another type of device that takes energy data from the meter cupboard into the cloud so it can be used by apps on smartphones and tablets. The industry term for this type of device is “consumer access device” (or CAD for short). One of the main drivers behind the CAD concept is cost reduction, and as a result the typical CAD is designed to be a very simple Internet bridge device that takes whatever data the smart meter generates and pumps it into a cloud platform.
At geo, we understand the value of making smart metering data available both in and outside the home. However, our vision has always been that a CAD should be more than a bridge – it should be a smart device that makes intelligent choices to reduce data costs and complexity while maximising usability.
This is what drove us to design our market-leading range of connected smart metering solutions, from a cost-optimised screen-less CAD to our top-of-the-range Trio II hybrid IHD/CAD product. All products in this range are clever about what data to send and at what frequency, can buffer data in case Internet connectivity is disrupted temporarily, and even generate useful value-added data locally to send to the cloud. By being clever, they enable better solutions, more reliably, and at a lower total cost of ownership.
It is great to see that our customers recognise the unique benefits of the geo approach to consumer access devices and are deploying our smart connected technology in volume in real British homes!
Did you think of CADs as just a commodity until reading this? If you’d like to find out more from the geo team about why CADs are much more and why they should be part of your plans, please get in touch today marketing@geotogether.com .
