Letter: Maureen Fenlon May 8, 2018

I have read, both in the national and local press, letters from members of the public who are anti Smart meters.

I thought perhaps it would be appropriate to hear from someone, such as me, who is very much in favour of Smart meters. We have been using our Smart meter for a while now and I would find it very difficult to be without it. By using this sensibly, we have reduced our power usage by approximately one-third. A few tips we have found to assist are: Never overfill a kettle, only boil as much water as you need; when cooking a meal, try using just one appliance, such as the oven, hob, microwave or pressure cooker; never leave PCs, TVs, etc on standby, turn them off at the wall; a single turn down on the central heating boiler helps, without affecting the comfort of the home.

Our Smart meter has enabled us to identify these, and more ways to reduce our bills. When it was first installed, we did tend to ‘over-analyse’, but now it is just another source of information which I normally glance at when I go to bed for our power usage that day.