New Smart Meters Announced for UK Homes

The UK government is now planning to install almost 45 million smart meters for homes and businesses across the UK. This will be done over the next decade.

This new plan, starting next year, will have energy companies replacing existing electricity and gas meters with new smart ones. This will be able to tell homeowners just how much energy they are using. The hope is that this move will help allow people to keep up with the amount of money they are spending on power better and allow them to cut their costs.

The installation of these 45 million smart meters is expected to cost the UK around £7 billion. However, the UK government says that it’s worth it if it encourages people to reduce the amount of electricity and gas that they consume.

Mike O’Brien, the Energy Minister, says that smart meters are going to help consumers save money and energy. He also noted that this is going to help cut emissions as well. The plan is to put smart meters in every home in the UK by the end of 2020.

The government is also believed to be putting a lot of pressure on energy firms to ensure that every single meter is capable of handling micro generation data. This way consumers can be paid for any kind of electricity that they supply back to the National Grid. This can be done by solar panels that have been installed on some homes. Also, earlier this month, the Confederation of British Industry released a report that shows their support for the new smart meters.