Traditionally businesses have had to rely on applying energy efficiency measures within their business to try and reduce their annual consumption. The success of these measures could be gauged by comparing the monthly or quarterly bills to see if consumption had gone down.

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The introduction of Smart Meters and Automated Meter Reading (AMR) in recent years has lead to businesses now being able to see “live” energy consumption figures which has many benefits for them in combating rising energy costs.

 

A smart meter is an advanced meter that identifies consumption in more detail than a conventional meter, and records and stores data. AMR refers to the automatic collection of data from meters which is transferred to a central database for billing and/or analysis.

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You may already have a smart meter without realising as all electricity supplies with a maximum demand over 100kW have to have a half-hourly electric meter. Electricity supplies consuming less than 100kW are not obliged to have half-hourly interval metering equipment installed and are referred to as non-half hour (NHH) supplies. These types of meters are often simple but they can be easily replaced with a smart meter. There are also smart meters for gas, water and electricity that can provide pulsing output to obtain data by linking them with an electricity smart meter or a data logging AMR system.

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The impact of this technology means that any energy efficiency actions that are implemented can be measured immediately, i.e. putting in temperature control systems or low wattage lighting. They can also show a business when, during a period of time, energy is being used. This information helps businesses to take the appropriate action to reduce this consumption when it is not required, such as electrical equipment being left on overnight, the heating system coming on too early or not going off until late.

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All-in-all the introduction of Smart Meters and AMR gives the control of energy back to the business and ensures that there is little, if any, wastage within their operation. This means that the return on investment can be extremely quick.