It seems, according to a press release from auto-switching company Migrate, that the smart meter rollout is producing a surprising number of consumers who are experts … on smart meters.

The company said it recently carried out a survey and found that “of those who have a smart meter installed in their home, 76% said that they had a first-generation Smets-1, 20% had a new Smets-2 meter, while [surely there should be a 'just' here] 4% were unsure which meter they had installed”. 

The company also said that “Of people who had a first-generation smart meter installed … almost half (46%) said that they had contacted their supplier themselves to enquire about being upgraded to the new Smets-2 meters.”

I have to say, I’m impressed. The company points out that there are 14.4 million smart meters in operation, which suggests that if the company’s survey subjects are a guide, nearly 14 million people already understand the difference between Smets 1 and Smets 2 meters. If Migrate’s survey were to be replicated across the country, would it find that over six million people have contacted their supplier – proactively – to ask for their meter to be upgraded?

The press release had a serious point – most of the people who contacted their energy company to ask for a Smets 2 upgrade were told they were not available, which should be a warning to give more impetus to efforts to adopt Smets 1 meters into the DCC.

But I can only be encouraged by the suggestion that many millions of people understand the kind of issues in rolling out different versions of smart meters that are often preceded by a nerd warning even in industry meetings – and that those millions of customers would care enough to call their energy company to ask for the newest version.

Now if only we can get those customers to use the same expertise and initiative in managing their energy use, the smart meter rollout will have achieved more than it ever hoped.