Get help with your smart meter

What is a smart meter

A smart meter automatically sends your electricity and gas meter readings to your supplier. The meter’s in-home display also shows you how much energy you’re using during the day.

Benefits of a smart meter

Having a smart meter means you:

• get bills based on accurate meter readings and not estimates
• do not need to submit meter readings yourself
• could find ways to save money using up-to-date information on your energy use
• can add credit automatically or without having to visit a shop (in prepayment mode)
• can access more flexible tariffs, including dual-rate tariffs

Contact your supplier to get a smart meter for free. You can also book an appointment to have a smart meter installed using the Smart Energy GB website.

If you have a radio teleswitch (RTS) meter

Support for RTS meters has now ended. If you still have one, it may no longer work as expected. The equipment's age also means any problems will be harder to fix. You should contact your supplier to arrange to have a new smart meter installed.

How energy suppliers use the data from your smart meter

The data you share through your smart meter is used to:

• bill you for the energy you use
• offer you new products and services, for example new tariffs (if you have given permission for this to happen)
• help make the energy system more efficient by recording demand more accurately

Contact your supplier for more information on how smart meters record and share your data.

Get help if your smart meter stops working

Your smart meter may stop recording the energy you use, or may no longer send readings to your supplier.

Follow these steps on the Citizens Advice website if you are having problems with your smart meter.

Get help if you are struggling to pay your energy bills

See our Get help with your home or business energy bills page for information on the support you can get from your supplier, government or charities.