Martin Lewis tip to get ‘much cheaper rates’ at this time of day | Personal Finance | Finance
Martin Lewis has explained how energy bill payers can make some savings on their household bills. A recent edition of his BBC podcast featured a compilation of listener questions from the past year.
This included a question from a listener about smart meters. They said they had always declined the offer of getting a smart meter installed because of the “poor reputation” of the devices.
The person said they “do not under any circumstances want a smart meter fitted”. Mr Lewis replied to explain some of the benefits of the devices.
He said: “I am generally relatively pro smart meters. If you have a smart meter, first of all you don’t need to do meter readings any more. The amount of energy used is automatically passed through to the energy company.”
He also explained how you can get better rates thanks to having a smart meter. The expert said: “It means a whole range of special tariffs are available to you, and we’re going to see more of these time-of-use tariffs coming later, where you may be offered much cheaper rates for using energy overnight, if you can shift your electricity usage overnight.
“It’s good for charging an EV [electric vehicle] for the same reason that you’re able to measure it in that way. In future, I think one of the ways people are going to be able to save substantially is by having a smart meter and using most of the electricity in storage heaters and everything else, that puts on their energy at night.”
Bringing down your energy usage
The savings expert spoke about another feature of smart meters that is helpful for controlling your energy usage. He said: “I also think the in-home display that most people get with a smart meter that allows you to see exactly how much energy you are using, while it can be depressing, it’s also a great way to manage your energy usage.
“Lots of people tell me, I looked at the meter, I saw it was running at 19p, I know that must mean I left the lights on upstairs. They are so intuitively linked to what their display is telling them, they can work out what’s on where in the house and when it shouldn’t be on, which is also useful and helps you bring down your energy usage.”
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