If you’re thinking about installing a new solar panel system for your home or business, you’re probably trying to better understand how smart meters work—and why energy retailers are moving towards them.
It’s a common question we get asked here at Renew Energy. Many of our customers want to know how smart meters work with their solar array, and what the implications are from a financial and energy perspective. We’ve broken down the key benefits of installing a solar energy smart meter for your home or business, while debunking a couple of common misconceptions along the way. Let’s get into it.
How do smart meters work?
In contrast to a traditional, manual electricity meter—which records your total energy use and then sends you a bill every three months—a smart meter is a digital, two-way device that records your energy use every 30 minutes.
That data gets sent to your energy provider for billing, who can now read your meter remotely. This means they no longer have to send somebody to your property to take a reading, so you’ll never receive an estimated reading again—and will only be charged for the exact amount of energy you use (if you exceed your solar production).
Your smart meter will usually be linked to an online platform, app, or electronic device sent to you by your provider. This lets you see an accurate measurement of your energy use, and while it doesn’t display usage down to the second, it’s still closer to real-time than traditional meters.
The benefits of a solar energy smart meter
Better financial management
The first key benefit of installing a solar energy smart meter is that it helps you better manage your money.
Most solar panel owners will enter into a net metering agreement with their energy retailer, which calculates how much energy you use vs. how much you produce from your solar array. While a traditional meter only calculates your energy use (and how much you owe)—a smart metre also calculates the energy you export back to the grid, and therefore how much your retailer needs to credit you, based on the surplus.
With access to detailed, (almost) real time information about your energy use, it’s far easier to see how much money you’re likely to spend or save. Depending on your agreed contract, you can then manage your energy use at different times of the day, for example, using less energy at peak times—or working around your peak solar energy production hours.
This is where your app or device comes in handy. Most platforms break down your energy use and production in easy to read graphs and charts, making it easy to adjust your electricity consumption accordingly (and remotely)—while some will even do this for you automatically.
Better energy management
Having access to real time data also helps you manage your solar energy from a technical standpoint—benefiting both you and the wider community.
The first advantage is that your smart meter can notify you and your retailer if something isn’t working. If there’s an issue with your solar panels or an outage from the grid—perhaps during a storm or other weather incident—your smart meter will help facilitate a faster response and repair.
The second benefit is around your provider collecting more data from a wider cross section of homes. In the short term, more data allows them to better manage their renewables, which has a positive impact on your rates. In the long term, more data supports them in making smart investments in new technology. One example is in Australia, where smart meters are being trialled to dynamically control residential hot water systems, ensuring they’re only switched on when there’s cheap surplus energy in the grid, and during peak solar panels production hours.
Peer to peer energy trading
A less known benefit of smart meters, but one that offers many promising outcomes, is peer to peer (p2) energy trading—an initiative that’s already being trialled in Australia.
Peer-to-peer energy trading is where you buy, sell, or swap excess solar power directly with your friends, neighbours, or a local solar or wind farm, rather than interacting with the grid. By cutting out the middleman, everyone saves money and gets better transparency over their energy sources.
To make this happen, you can connect your smart meter to a data system—often a blockchain p2p platform—that helps you find customers, logs traded energy, and initiates the exchange of electricity and money. While this is a new technology, it’s hard to say whether p2p energy trading will take off, but it may well be one new benefit of installing a solar energy smart meter for your home or business.
Are smart meters compulsory?
Whether smart metres are compulsory depends on where you live. Most of our clients live in Australia, where the Australian Energy Regulator requires all new and replacement electricity meters to be smart meters unless you live in Western Australia or the Northern Territory. We recommend you check with your local government or energy provider for the most accurate information for your area.
Who installs and pays for my smart meter?
Smart meter installation is usually down to your retailer, who will choose a contractor (known as a metering coordinator). They will usually take care of maintenance too. How long the installation takes depends on whether they need to create a new connection, or are replacing an existing meter where a connection already exists.
Regarding money, for the most part, smart meters don’t cost up-front (although there may be an installation fee), but the cost is absorbed into your energy bills.
So, are smart meters worth it?
We certainly think so. Smart meters allow you to take greater control of your energy usage—and therefore your finances. With so much more data to hand, you can make better decisions for your home or business, choose better deals with your energy provider, and maximise the returns on your solar panel installation. And, if p2p energy trading takes off, then you may get more transparency over your energy production, and potentially even higher savings.
As one of Australia’s leading solar panel installers, our team at Renew Energy are naturally experts in smart meters too. Contact us today to find out more about the benefits of smart meters—and all of your solar panel needs.