Smart power meters in most homes

Electrical contractor Allan Clark installs a smart meter for Trustpower. Photo/George Novak

Trustpower staff are trialling smart meters in their homes as the company begins the transition to using the technology.

Matthew James from Trustpower said the company was the last of the big five retailers to use advanced meters across its customer base.

''At this stage, a very small number of meters (about 50) have been installed at premises belonging to our staff. We intend to undertake additional pilots to further our understanding of what a larger advanced metering infrastructure deployment may look like.''

About 32 per cent of the company's customers already had advanced meters installed after switching to Trustpower from another company that was already using the technology.

It had just under 7000 advanced metered properties in Tauranga.

''Again these are as a result of Trustpower gaining a customer at a property where an advanced meter was already installed.''

The overall number of meter readers would reduce once advanced meters were installed more widely, Mr James said.

About 75 per cent of New Zealand homes have smart meters.

Electricity Authority chief executive Carl Hansen said smart meters provided accurate data to retailers remotely, he said.

A smart meter records the amount of electricity a household was using at half hourly intervals and sends the data daily to your retailer using similar technology to text messages or a radio network.

''This means your retailer never needs to estimate your bill based on your historic consumption pattern, and you will not be charged according to historic use if you move house.

''Some retailers also use smart meters to provide you with a forecast of your expected use (based on the information they have) - this means you will have a good idea of how much your bill will be when it arrives.''

Tauranga Budget Advisory Service manager Diane Bruin said estimated power bills were harder to budget for compared with smart meter bills.