What’s the difference between a smart meter and an energy monitor?
Published: 10/05/17 By: April Bowles
Published: 10/05/17 By: April Bowles
You know your gas and electricity meters that live alone, tucked away in the dark, dusty cupboard under the stairs? The ones you only ever think about when someone comes round to read them every now and then?
Well, soon (if not already) these will be replaced by smart meters. These smart meters will still look a bit like your old gas and electricity meters – unlike your previous meters though, they will be able to send your energy use data, in real time, directly to your energy supplier.
This means, not only will your gas and electricity suppliers know exactly how much energy you’ve used, they’ll also be able to give you an accurate bill at the end of each month – meaning no more incorrect, estimated bills and no more having to take the day off work for someone to stop by and take your meter reading.
So, how do energy monitors fit into all this?
When you get your smart meter installed, you’ll also get your very own energy monitor. If you’re really lucky, you might even be given one that’s made by us here at geo HQ – like this one in the image below.
An energy monitor – or an in-home-display (IHD) as it’s sometimes called – is a handy, little device that shows you (in either £££s, kWh or both) exactly how much energy you’re using in your home.
Essentially, your energy monitor takes the info that your smart meter collects – and displays it for you in an easy-to-read way. This means, even if your smart meter is tucked out of sight under the stairs, you’ll still have your energy monitor to hand to help you keep track of your energy use. To get the most out of your energy monitor, we recommend placing it somewhere visible (think your kitchen worktop or mantelpiece) so that you can’t help but glance at it each time you walk past.
Most energy monitors will let you see your current and past energy use figures, some even let you set yourself a monthly energy budget. Once configured, you’ll be able to see, day-by-day, whether you’re on track to come in under, or over, budget for that month. That way you won’t end up with any nasty surprises when your monthly bill arrives. Phew!
We hope that’s helped explain how smart meters and energy monitors work. For more info on smart meters, take a look at the Smart Energy GB website. And, if you’re interested in being among the first to get a smart meter installed in your home, please get in touch with your energy supplier for more information.
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
_GRECAPTCHA | 5 months 27 days | This cookie is set by the Google recaptcha service to identify bots to protect the website against malicious spam attacks. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement | 1 year | Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category . |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional | 11 months | The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". |
PHPSESSID | session | This cookie is native to PHP applications. The cookie is used to store and identify a users' unique session ID for the purpose of managing user session on the website. The cookie is a session cookies and is deleted when all the browser windows are closed. |
viewed_cookie_policy | 11 months | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
__utma | 2 years | This cookie is set by Google Analytics and is used to distinguish users and sessions. The cookie is created when the JavaScript library executes and there are no existing __utma cookies. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics. |
__utmb | 30 minutes | Google Analytics sets this cookie, to determine new sessions/visits. __utmb cookie is created when the JavaScript library executes and there are no existing __utma cookies. It is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics. |
__utmc | session | The cookie is set by Google Analytics and is deleted when the user closes the browser. It is used to enable interoperability with urchin.js, which is an older version of Google Analytics and is used in conjunction with the __utmb cookie to determine new sessions/visits. |
__utmt | 10 minutes | Google Analytics sets this cookie to inhibit request rate. |
__utmz | 6 months | Google Analytics sets this cookie to store the traffic source or campaign by which the visitor reached the site. |
_gat | 1 minute | This cookie is installed by Google Universal Analytics to restrain request rate and thus limit the collection of data on high traffic sites. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
_ga | 2 years | The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors. |
_gid | 1 day | Installed by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously. |