A guide to smart meters

With a smart meter, you can track your energy usage more accurately – so it could be a useful addition to your home. Energy suppliers are required to offer a smart meter to all households by the end of 2025.

What is a smart meter?

A smart meter records exactly how much gas or electricity you use and automatically sends regular readings to your energy supplier.

Smart meters come with a small, easy-to-use device that's known as an 'in-home display unit'. This sits in your home and allows you to see how much energy you’re using in kilowatt hours (kWh) and exactly how much it’s costing you.

Some suppliers offer an accessible in-home display. This has all the usual functions of an in-home display, but includes accessibility features, such as tactile buttons, a large typeface and text-to-speech function to help with screen navigation. If you feel you'd benefit from an accessible in-home display, speak to your supplier about this.

Find out more about smart meters on the Smart Energy GB website

Do I need to have an internet connection to have a smart meter?

No – it isn't necessary to have an internet connection at home to have a smart meter fitted.

What are the benefits of smart meters?

There are many benefits to getting a smart meter installed, including:

• Smart meters record exactly how much gas or electricity you use, and automatically send this information to your supplier, so you don’t have to take and submit meter readings anymore. Also, you should get accurate bills, so you’ll only be paying for the energy you use. However, it’s still a good idea to check that your bills match the amount of energy you’ve used.
• A smart meter can help you manage how much energy you use. When you can see and understand your energy usage and costs, you’re likely to be better at managing it.
• Having a smart meter gives you access to ‘time of use’ tariffs, which enable you to save money on your energy bills by using energy during lower demand, off-peak periods.

Find out more about time of use tariffs on the Energy Saving Trust website

Why is my supplier asking me to have a smart meter?

Smart meters are being offered to households across England, Wales and Scotland, replacing traditional meters.

Energy suppliers are required to offer them to all households and small businesses by the end of 2025.

You shouldn't be charged to have a smart meter installed as part of this rollout.

You don't have to have a smart meter fitted if one is offered to you and if you change your mind later, you should be able to have one fitted without being charged.

How much do smart meters cost?

Energy suppliers must install smart meters at no extra cost, so you shouldn’t be asked to pay to have one installed. You should get in touch with Citizens Advice if your energy supplier is trying to charge you for installation.

Find the contact details for Citizens Advice on their website

How can I get a smart meter?

If you’re interested in getting a smart meter, get in touch with your energy supplier.

They can provide you with more information about smart meters. If you're still interested they can arrange an installation appointment with you.

Your supplier should let you know what to expect and if there's anything you need to do to prepare for the installation appointment.

Can I get a smart meter if I'm renting?

You can have a smart meter installed if you rent your home, but what you need to do depends on whether the energy bill is in your name or your landlord’s.

• If the energy bill is in your name, you can choose to have a smart meter installed. But it’s worth letting your landlord know that you want to do this ahead of the installation.
• If the energy bill is in your landlord’s name, then it’s their decision. Get in touch with your landlord and ask them about it.

What will happen during the installation?

A qualified installer should visit on the agreed day and time and present valid ID for you to check before entering your home.

As well as replacing your meters, the installer should:

• provide you with an in-home display
• show you how to work any equipment that's fitted
• answer any questions you may have and direct you to more help and information if needed
• provide you with some energy efficiency advice.

This is in line with standards set down by a code of practice for smart meter installers.

If you're having both gas and electricity meters replaced, the process should take about 2 hours.

How does a smart meter work if I'm a pre-payment customer?

If you already prepay for your energy, a smart meter can be set to pre-payment mode.

You can top up your smart meter credit online or by using an app or by phone. It may be possible to set the meter to top up automatically too, so you don’t get caught short.

You can also continue to top up at a local shop or Post Office if this is easiest for you or if it's what you prefer – credit may be added automatically, or you may need to add this manually to the smart meter.

If you want to change how you pay for your energy, smart meters can be switched between pre-payment and credit mode remotely by the supplier.

What happens if I switch energy tariff or supplier?

You can switch tariff or supplier with a smart meter and you shouldn’t need to get a new smart meter or in-home display.

If you have one of the more recent second-generation smart meters, which began to be installed in 2018, your switch should happen automatically. There shouldn't be any disruption to your readings, supply or payments. Everything should continue to work as before and your meter will be updated with your new supplier and tariff details.

If you have a smart meter that was installed before 2018, you're likely to have a first-generation meter. These smart meters are being remotely upgraded so they'll work on a single national meter network. If you switch supplier and your meter hasn't been upgraded yet, your meter might not work in 'smart mode'. Smart mode means that your meter should automatically send readings to your supplier. If your meter doesn't work in smart mode, you may need to temporarily provide manual readings to your new supplier until the meter is upgraded. 

You can check if your smart meter should work in smart mode after switching on the Citizens Advice website.

Check your smart meter on the Citizens Advice website

What if I'm having issues with my smart meter or the in-home display?

If your smart meter isn’t working, this could be a temporary connectivity issue that can be resolved remotely.

If a connectivity problem persists, or there are other issues with your meter, such as automated readings not being sent, get in touch with your energy supplier to ask them to look into this.

If you're having a problem with your in-home display, such as your energy use information not showing, check the user guide for the unit, as it may tell you how to fix common problems. If you don’t have printed user guide to hand, you could search for this online, using the brand and model details of your unit.

You can find the user guide for your smart meter's in-home display on the Citizens Advice website.

Find your smart meter's user guide on the Citizens Advice website

If you can’t fix the problem, ask your supplier for help. They might agree to fix, or replace, your in-home display.