I've recently changed energy suppiers to get a cheaper fixed deal for the year ahead, and going from my old supplier (EDF) I find that my smart meter is actually now dumb, it won't work with my new supplier. Not the end of the world, but annoying. I need a SMETS2 now apparently (another example of an ill-thought out govt regulator 'breakthrough' which almost immediately becomes useless
). Perhaps more frustrating is that despite several email offers from my new supplier to have one fitted, every time I click on the link I get
An Error Has Occurred . No matter, reading my own meter once amonth is no biggie.
I digress...yes, a smart meter will tell you where your energy is going when you look at it. This fast becomes quite boring though, and I'm a relatively careful
turn it off if you're not using it type of person anyway, so not much to be gained for me. And yes, with the exception of your microwave oven (which is incredibly efficient at what it does), everything you heat up costs a lot.
In that vein, one thing which definitely
is worth doing is to change all your lightbulbs to the latest LED versions (make sure you're aware of colour temperature). Your lighting bill will go down by around 90% immediately. And my old incandescent (and halogen) spare stock in the cupboard under the stairs? Stuck 'em on eBay to recycle them, there are still people who want them. Bless.
Going off-thread, something else you definitely should consider:
do you have a modern gas boiler? Something very worth doing is to make it smart. Fitted as standard, a modern condensing boiler is pretty efficient in itself. However, you'll know that when you set your room thermostat to the desired temperature, your boiler will fire itself up and run hot to make your radiators hot, until the temperature rises to make the stat click 'off'. All well and good you think. Well actually, no. Not only is your boiler not running at its most efficient when going flat out, the temperature will overshoot a little before the stat turns off. Then the room temperature will
undershoot a little before triggering the boiler to run flat out again. Rinse and repeat.
What you want is to make your boiler
modulate. This basically means that it will normally run a little cooler (and more efficiently), run warm rather than hot water through your radiators, and as a result be able to keep a much more consistent heat in your house without yo-yoing up and down and over and undershooting. What would also be really nice is to have a system which learnt your/familial habits throughout the year, to actually
anticipate necessary usage (but of course also be immediately overrideable should you so wish). And then what would make the whole thing even more consistent (and cheaper to run) is if your boiler 'knew' the heating characteristics of the fabric of your house, and also the outside temperature to assist that. And wouldn't it be great if you could control all this from your phone, so for instance you could turn on your heating after being turned down low for the duration of a holiday, with a couple of finger presses in an App while you wait in the departure lounge of some sunny clime.
I've just fitted such a system myself, and looking at my gas usage for last year I reckon I'll make a pretty good saving. Hive and Tado make such systems, although I plumped for a boiler brand-specific system for my Vaillant boiler. Had it since May, and it worked perfectly for the last two weeks of that cold spell we had. After those two weeks it had 'learnt' my house, and will continue learning into the future. My kit comprised:
Wireless roomstat >> Bluetooth connection >>
Control Hub >> WiFi connection to Vaillant server.
The Control Hub sits in the vicinity of the boiler and has a two-conductor wired connection to the eBus terminals on the boiler (you put a U-link in the two terminals where the old wired stat connected).
Various sytems will work differently, and you must research it properly for yourself if having a go. But if in doubt, get a man in. My system cost £160 and I'm very happy with it so far and looking forward to reduced gas usage as well as better temperature control in the house.