Smart meters are here for prepay customers – meaning it’s even easier to top up from the comfort of your home.

Brent & Kilburn Times: Smart meters are transforming the prepay experience by making it easier for consumers to top up Picture: Smart Energy GBSmart meters are transforming the prepay experience by making it easier for consumers to top up Picture: Smart Energy GB (Image: Archant)

Smart meters bring many advantages, including allowing you to see how much energy you’re using at a glance. And the upgrade to prepayment has even more benefits, with new ways to top up and manage your credit without leaving the sofa.

According to Smart Energy GB, the government-backed organisation helping us all to better understand the benefits of smart meters, more than eight out of 10 prepay customers would recommend getting a smart meter.¹

Never run out of credit again

Smart meters are transforming the prepay experience by making it easier for consumers to top up. With traditional prepay meters, you need to manually top up a card or key at PayPoints. But with smart prepay meters, the process is much simpler.

You can top up in a number of ways, which could include online, via telephone or text message, or even with a smartphone app. There’s no gas card or electricity key necessary – though you can still top up in person at your local shop if you prefer.

Research by Citizens Advice found 16 per cent of people with prepay meters run out of credit each year. The top two reasons for this are, customers forgetting to top up (47%), and customers not realising their credit was low (32%).²

With a smart prepay meter, customers have the ability to monitor energy usage and check their balance with their in-home displays. As a result, smart prepay should help prevent the above – plus, if you do run out of credit, the online top-up function means you can get the energy back on quickly.

Save money on your energy bills

The introduction of smart meters can help you change the way you use energy at home – and could reduce the amount of money you spend on energy.

In prepay mode, the handy in-home display tells you how much credit you have left, and you can see your energy consumption at a glance. You can use this information to work out which appliances, like the television or the kettle, are using the most energy and, if you can, adjust accordingly.

90 percent of customers with a smart meter in prepay mode have taken at least one step to reduce their energy use, such as turning off the lights in empty rooms and changing the way they use household appliances.³

Smart prepay meters makes budgeting easier as you’re able to see in near real-time just how much you’re spending on your energy, which can help you choose the right supplier and the tariff that works for you.

The humble smart prepay meter can revolutionise how you pay for energy. And by cutting out a journey, it’s saving a little of your energy too!

Ask your energy supplier today if you’re eligible* for a smart prepay meter.

*Eligibility may vary by supplier and region

Smart Energy GB is a government-backed organisation tasked with informing Great Britain about the benefits of the smart meter rollout.

1 – Smart Energy GB, Smart Meters:Revolutionising the prepay experience, February 2019, page 3 and 4

2 – Smart Energy GB, Smart Meters:Revolutionising the prepay experience, February 2019, page 3

3 – Smart Energy GB, Smart Meters:Revolutionising the prepay experience, February 2019, page 2