Smart meters

Our Edwardian house took a leap into the 21st century today. Our old gas and electric meters were replaced by the latest high-tech 'smart' meters. So now instead of having to read the old-style meters and file the readings online - whatever happened to the men who used to come to read the meters? - it all happens automatically.

This is the remote monitor that now sits in the kitchen and tells us how much energy we're using, so we can take measures to adjust consumption and so have some control over what it's costing. Which these days is usually rather a lot!

Smart meter installation has been happening progressively for a while now, and the target is for every home in the country to be equipped with smart meters by 2020. I only hope we live up to ours, because smart meters are surely only as smart as the people using the information they supply!