This ability to personalize communications while helping customers save money and energy moves utilities from being seen as mere service providers to being valued energy partners.
For example, they can offer pool owners more efficient pool pumps, or encourage those with EVs to charge their vehicles when energy demands – and costs – are lower. Rather than relying on transactional communications around billing and payment, companies can use the data gathered from smart meters to drive communications that increase customer satisfaction, trust, and engagement.Ĭompanies can analyze this data and use it to send personalized recommendations to customers via text, e-mail, or as part of the billing process. With smart meters, power companies gain significant opportunities to improve the customer experience. Manage their costs with notifications that alert them when their account hits a certain threshold or is higher than usual – to avoid an unexpectedly high bill at month end.Optimize energy usage by taking advantage of time-of-use tariffs and replacing outdated, power-hogging appliances with more energy-efficient ones.Reduce energy consumption with detailed energy usage information that pinpoints energy-guzzling activities and appliances.
Knowledge is power, and smart meter data benefits consumers by helping them: Smart meters are also a gateway for consumers to become prosumers, allowing them to produce, store, and consume energy. That ability to track usage, analyze it, and plan ahead could result in smart meters saving utility companies up to US$157 billion by 2035.
#SMART UTILITY METERS HOW TO#
Using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, the data generated by smart meters can be parsed to determine how to lower operating costs, increase efficiency, and forecast demand. Whereas traditional meters only measure overall consumption, smart meters track exactly when and how much electricity – or water or gas – is used and transmit that information to utilities in near real time.
Smart meters are Internet of Things (IoT) devices that attach to homes and businesses to track energy, water, and natural gas consumption.