“Big six” energy supplier stirs up controversy with new “incentives” for smart meter rollout

One of the UK's "big six" energy suppliers has stirred up controversy by planning to offer "incentives" in the form of cheaper deals for customers who decide to have a smart meter installed, an investigation has revealed.

The move by E.ON, which has nearly 5 million customers, the vast majority of which do not yet have a smart meter, is being described as a "ploy" to get more people to accept the new-style meters.

The research revealed that, as of next year, E.ON customers who accept to have smart meters installed will no longer pay its so-called "standard variable tariff", which is the default option they are moved onto when they have finished a fixed deal. This will be replaced with a one-year fixed deal which the company promises will be a cheaper option

The has drawn criticism both from customers — many of whom doubt the new technology — and consumer groups, who argue that lower tariffs should be unconditional. It comes as the Government's smart meter roll-out is in chaos as a number of Big Six energy firms have admitted that more than half of households are not accepting them.

Home owners who reject smart meters have a variety of reasons to do so, some of the most important ones being that they don't trust the energy companies enough to provide them full access to their usage data. In fact, while most customers admit that monitoring energy use is extremely useful for cutting down energy bills, they're also worried that energy companies could actually alter their plans based on specific user data, hence in effect pushing up prices for those times of the day when energy is actually used.

HeatingSave — leading developers of Smart Energy Monitoring and Management Systems

If you're interested in benefitting from full control over your energy expenditure, but in the same time you're not keen on sharing your usage data with a 3'rd party, then you should look no further than HeatingSave.

The HeatingSave Building Energy Monitor is a wireless management system that collects information from sensors placed in a building. It is unobtrusive and causes minimal disruption during installation. The system collects internal and external temperature data, along with information on how the heating system works and details of energy use. It also monitors the way a building is used in terms of its occupancy and the occupants' activities and lifestyles.

Using a password protected standard WiFi connection, sensors can quickly be set up to review and quantitatively analyse the data with user-friendly software graphics, via a laptop, PC, mobile phone or tablet-based device.

A cable connection to the building router also enables data to be uploaded to HeatingSave's cloud storage servers, where it can be analysed by sophisticated software. This provides a clear understanding of the real impact of energy efficiency measures, for example through pre-installation analysis and post-installation monitoring.

Building owners can access their energy usage details online to help them manage energy use more efficiently. This information is presented using a dashboard system that provides consolidated and drill down views of the energy use data.

Uniquely to HeatingSave, with only a few modifications, the Energy Monitor can also be used for controlling heating and electricity consumption within a dwelling, for even better savings.

If you'd like to find out more about the HeatingSave Building Energy Monitor and just how easily it can be deployed within any home, just contact us, and we'll be more than happy to answer any of your questions and queries.