Are you one of the more than two million people who had a smart electricity meter installed? It would help us find cheaper electricity tariffs, we were told. But if the meters are so smart, then why are some of us still paying over \u20ac800 more for electricity than we need to?<\/p>\n
\u201cDo consumers know how to use their smart meter to get cheaper electricity? The vast majority do not, because it\u2019s a real palaver,\u201d says Alan Smeaton, emeritus professor of computing at Dublin City University<\/a>.<\/p>\n Indeed, the complexity of accessing data from your smart meter to find a cheaper tariff is enough to put anyone off.<\/p>\n Prof Smeaton\u2019s data analytics team developed a tool<\/a> where households can upload their smart meter data to find out just how much they might be overpaying for electricity. Thousands have already done so. <\/p>\n Your smart meter records how much electricity you use and at what times of the day \u2013 is it during the daytime, at night or during the peak time of 5pm to 7pm? <\/p>\n But with smart meters now in more than four out of five households, at a cost of over \u20ac1 billion, there is still no one easy way for consumers to use all the data being collected about their electricity usage to reduce their own bills.<\/p>\n Instead, there is a multi-step process, requiring no small amount of computer literacy . This is leaving many paying too much. <\/p>\n Crunch the numbers<\/p>\n With about 60 electricity plans on the market, it\u2019s no wonder householders are bamboozled. Many of us are on tariffs that are far more expensive than necessary. <\/p>\n \u201cTypically the difference in cost between the cheapest and the most expensive electricity plan is about 60 per cent,\u201d says Smeaton. This is based on data from the thousands of bill payers who have already submitted their smart meter data to the tool his team has developed.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is one tariff that is the cheapest tariff for almost 90 per cent of people [based on their usage] who have used our system. When we dig into our analysis, we find it\u2019s even worse. There is also one tariff on the market that is the most expensive one for about one third of people. That\u2019s a trap.\u201d <\/p>\n [\u00a0Regulator criticised over energy firms\u2019 failure to help consumers save money via smart metersOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n It\u2019s not easy for householders to know if they are paying over the odds. Many are simply renewing, or signing up to new plans blind. <\/p>\n It\u2019s not surprising. If you don\u2019t have a smart meter, or don\u2019t know how to get your usage data from your meter, you might be using blunt estimates to find a plan. <\/p>\n Utilities regulator the CRU<\/a> recommends using free price comparison websites to shop around for the best plan. It approves bonkers.ie<\/a>, switcher.ie<\/a>, powertoswitch.ie<\/a> and energyswitch.ie<\/a>. Many other tools and sites unapproved by the CRU have sprang up too, including the DCU one<\/a>, Energypal.ie<\/a> and kilowatt.ie<\/a> which is useful for EV and solar panel users. <\/p>\n The CRU-approved comparison websites give householders a few different avenues to find a the right tariff. <\/p>\n You can input your annual electricity usage in kWh, or how much you spend on electricity in a year \u2013 but how many of us know this?<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t know, you could use the CRU\u2019s \u201cnational average\u201d electricity usage estimate to find the best plan. This estimates usage at 4,200kW\/h of electricity a year.<\/p>\n But the electricity usage of this \u201caverage consumer\u201d doesn\u2019t capture the diverse energy profiles of individual households, says Smeaton. <\/p>\n Some householders use electricity only for lighting. Some use it for everything. Some heat water with it and leave lights on with abandon. Poorer households may use far less electricity than is comfortable, and far less than the \u201caverage\u201d. And so, choosing a tariff based on the average usage won\u2019t be the most cost effective for everyone. <\/p>\n This is where your smart meter comes in. Uploading your own specific usage data to a comparator tool should give you the best tariff for you. If you have a smart meter, and don\u2019t use the data it records to find a tariff, that\u2019s not so smart. <\/p>\n Change for savings<\/p>\n If you have a smart meter and your electricity contract is up for renewal in the coming months, using the data could leave you almost \u20ac800 better off, as was the case with a calculation based on my own electricity usage. <\/p>\n A few years on from having my own smart meter installed, I uploaded my smart meter data to some comparison sites \u2013 you can see the steps in the panel. There were some eye-opening results.<\/p>\n First up, the DCU tool. It crunches your usage over the past 12 months. Within minutes, you receive an email with the cheapest five tariffs for you. The calculations don\u2019t include welcome credits or cashback. The prices quoted are inclusive of VAT. <\/p>\n \u201cElectric Ireland might have 10 tariffs, Yuno might have five, and what we do is run your data against each of those 60 tariffs and come up with a calculation to create a table of five plans which are the most cost effective,\u201d says Smeaton.<\/p>\n \u201cThe cheapest tariff based on your usage would have cost you \u20ac1,172 for the year, out of the 60 tariffs on offer. The most expensive would have cost you \u20ac1,967.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s a \u20ac795 difference between the most and least expensive plans on the market \u2013 for exactly the same usage. <\/p>\n \u201cUnlike choosing something like a holiday, where there are differences between what you are paying for, electricity is just electricity,\u201d says Smeaton. <\/p>\n While the difference in cost between the cheapest and the most expensive plan for me is 60 per cent, that won\u2019t be the same for everyone as it depends on your own household\u2019s usage.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes it\u2019s 50 per cent difference, sometimes it\u2019s 90 per cent difference. It really is worth shopping around,\u201d says Smeaton.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is one tariff that is sold by one of the providers which just happens to be the cheapest for the vast majority of people,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n I uploaded the same smart meter data file to the Bonkers.ie comparison tool. This comparison tool asks a few more questions than the DCU tool<\/a>.<\/p>\n To compare plans, I needed to name my current supplier, my current plan, or the unit rate of electricity I\u2019m paying, or the discount percentage I\u2019m getting. <\/p>\n If you don\u2019t know this, you can provide an estimate of how much electricity you use, either in euro or kW\/hs. <\/p>\n I was able to provide the name of my supplier, and the cost per unit of electricity in my contract. <\/p>\n It also asks whether you are under contract \u2013 as switching while you are in contract can mean an early exit penalty. <\/p>\n