How your business can benefit from the smart energy revolution

Many businesses have pledged commitments to becoming zero carbon. On an individual level, this might mean reducing single use plastics in their operations, enabling vegetarian or vegan diets in canteens, encouraging employees to travel less or investing in lower-carbon methods of commute for business travel.

But what else can businesses do to play their part as we move towards a lower cost, zero carbon energy future? It may be surprising, but one of the first, and easiest, steps, is to have a smart meter installed.

Smart meters are paving the way to a smarter, more sustainable energy network, which is called the smart grid.

What makes the smart grid sustainable?

The smart grid will be built on smart meters. Smart meters are very advanced, recording energy consumption more accurately and communicating with your supplier directly, and more frequently. For customers, this means accurate bills and minimal hassle.

The smart grid - relying on frequent and reliable data - will be easier to manage than the existing network, as smart meters will communicate energy consumption more accurately. This will make it easier for suppliers to forecast energy demand, which will help to lower costs.

This improved accuracy will also allow for more renewable energy on the network, which is good news for the planet. High levels of renewable energy generation can bring prices down, and suppliers will be able to incentivise customers to use electricity at these times, passing the savings on to customers, which means cheaper bills for your business.

Smart meters can also enable customers to keep track of and analyse their energy consumption, almost in real time. By combining this insight with behavioural changes, customers can start to save energy and money, while also contributing to a more sustainable future.

What happens next?

Smart technology is getting smarter all the time, which means the benefits of the smart grid could get even better. For example, in the future, a message from your smart meter could ‘tell’ your systems to turn on or off depending on the price of electricity. Or your electric vehicles (EVs) could be ‘told’ to charge whenever solar or wind energy is producing high amounts of electricity, so there is plenty to go round.

New and exciting technologies, such as EVs, can also be used to help store excess energy generated at these times, and this stored electricity can be used instead of drawing electricity from the grid. This can help consumers to save costs, as well as reducing the amount of energy being generated at source.

The pace of change isn’t going to slow down, and the grid must change too. Everyone has their part to play in helping the UK meet its commitment to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. And smart meters and the smart grid can help us all to do it. They'll will help us get from where we are today to a zero-carbon, lower-cost energy future.

If you'd like to find out more about smart meters and how they can help you, visit our smart meter page.