Red Energy & Smart meters

What is a Smart Meter?

A smart meter (sometimes called an advanced meter, digital meter or type 4 meter) is a meter that digitally measures your electricity usage. A smart meter measures when and how much electricity is used at your home or business. It sends this information to us (your electricity retailer) automatically, without your meter needing to be manually read by a meter reader. This is great if you have any issues with access to the meter at your home or business. Smart meters make moving a whole lot easier with remote connections and disconnections

Smart meters can also do other things remotely, like allow the electricity supply to be switched on and off without the need for someone to visit your home or business, measures the power quality at your premises and notifies your electricity network if your power goes out.

The Difference Between a Basic Meter and a Smart Meter

Before smart meters were available all meters were called Basic Meters. Basic Meters measure your usage from one point in time to another and are usually read by a meter reader every three months.

Smart meters record your energy consumption every 30 minutes and send your usage data to us. This means that we are able to send you timely and accurate bills, and gives you the flexibility to receive your bills monthly.

Smart Meters in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and Queensland

Since December 2017, Red has been taking care of new meter installations for our customers in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and Queensland. If you need a new connection or your meter needs replacement due to a fault or its age we will arrange to have a new smart meter installed at your home. Our metering service partners will be responsible for its supply, installation, testing, maintenance and security.

Meter Installation

We will work with you to agree a suitable meter installation date. The following timeframes apply in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and Queensland where we have not been able to agree on a date for a meter installation with you:

• New Connections – 6 business days from the date we are advised by you that the connection service (electricity supply) is in place.
  
  
• Meter Installation (without a change in the connection service) – 15 business days after we receive the request from you to install an electricity meter.

These timeframes do not apply where we do not have an agreement with you to install the meter, the site is not safe, accessible or ready for the meter installation, or installing the meter requires an interruption to another customer’s supply.

Visit Accredited Metering Services for more information