Australians are set to make significant savings on their electricity bills as smart meters become standard issue in every home, writes Cameron Wood from Tado.
According to a study by independent industry analyst and consulting firm Berg Insight, more than 56 per cent of European electricity consumers will have a smart meter by the end of 2022. Supplied free from energy providers, these devices help consumers view their energy usage in real time.
A small screen in the house, wirelessly connected to the electricity meter outside, showcases the yearly, monthly, daily and even hourly cost and amount of energy used at the property. However, outside the home is where the real value of these devices can be found.
While taking away the surprise of energy bills before they arrive is valuable to the consumer and supplier, smart meters play their part in unlocking a renewable energy future. Their insights can provide live data on the energy demand of entire networks, on a national and international scale.
In a renewable electricity market of intermittent sources, volatile pricing is based on the availability of supply provided by renewables. When the supply of electricity cannot match demand, the price of energy increases. Inversely, when supply outstrips demand, the price of energy drops.
Home smart meters can unlock these cheaper prices. Customers can take advantage of times of high and low pricing through the adoption of time-of-use tariffs. Electric vehicles already work with chargers that sync to tariffs and only charge the car overnight or during times of low pricing. Imagine your air-conditioner doing the same thing, actively seeking low prices to do the bulk of your home’s heating or fill up your hot water tank.
Recently, the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) proposed all Australian homes be fitted with smart meters by 2030 so households can make informed decisions about their energy consumption as electricity prices continue to surge across the country. With a perfect landscape for solar panels and wind turbines, Australia has the opportunity to become a renewable energy powerhouse, rewarding its people with cheaper electricity on sunny days to power their air-conditioning units, while keeping temperatures stable.
Smart meters are the key to unlocking the plunge pricing that renewable energy can provide. AEMC chair Anna Collyer has already announced legislation to require smart meters for enabling better consumption patterns and to regenerate Australia’s energy grid. An added benefit will provide incentives to Australian energy consumers to make use of the renewable energy available during times of lower prices.
Savvy Europeans are already taking advantage of such incentives. Security of supply cannot be guaranteed by renewable sources, and while we can’t control when the sun shines or the wind blows, we can control consumption in homes during those times. We need to match the demand of energy to the supply available to grow our energy network’s share of renewables.
The solution to this comes from time-of-use tariffs and a smart controlled home that actively seeks to only use electricity when the price is low. By creating homes with dynamic energy usage that seeks and avoids higher priced energy times, homes will become in sync with nature and the supply of renewables.
This allows the share of renewables to increase as intermittent renewable sources will be able to match the demand of homes connected through time-of-use tariffs.
A recent showcase for this technology is Tado’s air-conditioning product, Balance. It uses times of low energy prices throughout the day to do the bulk of a home’s cooling or heating while maintaining preferred temperature ranges within a user’s comfort zone.
The system will turn off air-conditioning during peak times for a couple of hours within your pre-determined comfort zone or preferred temperatures. By using smart thermostats, customers save, on average, 22 per cent on energy costs. Tado Balance customers will additionally reduce their costs by 20 per cent.
In a country perfectly suited to solar panels and renewable energy, this is a huge opportunity for Australia. Smart meters and load shifting home energy use to renewable supply paves the way for energy transition to grow its share of renewable sources, with the humble smart meter playing a significant role.