00:00 It's really important, I think, particularly during the current cost of living crisis and
00:06 when energy prices are so high, that people do try to understand their usage and what
00:11 makes up their bill. If you have a smart meter that will help you to understand your usage,
00:16 you'll get visibility on how much you're spending and also things like what the standing charge
00:20 is versus your consumption as well.
00:23 From the 1st of October, Ofgem lowered the price cap for households in England, Wales
00:28 and Scotland to £1,834 annually for a standard dual fuel energy bill. That's down from £2,074.
00:38 Ofgem's new method of calculating the average household's annual gas and electricity consumption
00:44 is a significant part of the reason for the reduction in price. Under the previous approach,
00:49 the cap would have only dropped by 7%, resulting in an annual cost of £1,923.
00:56 There are a lot of small micro changes that people can do, which together actually do
01:02 make a really significant difference. I think your smart meter in-home display can be really
01:06 helpful in helping you to see which appliances in your home, for example, are quite energy
01:11 hungry. In my home, it's my electric oven, which I know I'm careful about how I use it
01:17 and when I use it because it guzzles the electricity. But there are going to be other appliances,
01:21 things like your tumble dryer, your washing machine, for example, which will tend to use
01:28 more energy. So it's just thinking about how you're using them.
01:31 The other thing I would say is looking at the kind of energy efficiency of your home.
01:35 Unfortunately, in this country, we have quite a lot of leaky homes. We have quite a lot
01:38 of old fashioned housing stock, which can leak energy basically. So if you haven't done
01:44 so already, I would really recommend looking at things like insulating your doors and windows
01:49 if you don't already have double glazing, for example. You can do that quite easily
01:53 with simple kind of strips that you can get from your DIY shop.
01:56 Victoria is a director at Smart Energy GB, a not-for-profit campaign designed to promote
02:02 the importance of smart meters and their benefits to people and the environment.
02:07 Smart meters basically give you the visibility so you can see what you're using. The other
02:11 area I think they're really useful is if you're on a prepayment plan. If you have a prepayment
02:15 smart meter, they can be tremendously helpful because they allow you to top up online so
02:21 you don't have to visit a shop, for example, to top up. That again, if you're away, for
02:27 example, it means if you're away for a week or a weekend, seeing friends or family, for
02:30 example, you know that you're not going to run out because you can top up online.
02:34 So there's some really useful benefits, I think, for people on smart prepay, as well
02:39 as if you're not on smart prepay, visibility that your display unit gives you in terms
02:44 of your usage. The other really helpful thing, I think, is knowing that you're going to get
02:48 accurate bills. And I think what we've seen is that people are very concerned, quite understandably,
02:53 over the winter just to make sure that they're only being billed for what they're using.
02:58 And your smart meter, because it gives that real-time information, ensures that you get
03:02 accurate bills as well.
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