I have been contacted previously about having a Smart Meter installed on my electricity and gas supplies, but have put off the switch until a recently contact by my energy provider. So I decided to go for the switch and in a way I am glad that I waited.

Why? Well its due to the fact that the device you get to read the meter is no longer an LCD screen running a set of data, but a hub that just connects the meters to the internet.

The image in the post shows the architecture for the setup and comes straight from my installed hub.

The installation was done in about 1hr 45 mins for both gas and electric meters and the hub set up took no time at all. I had preloaded the app on to my mobile and all I needed to sync the app was a code from the hub once installed.

With usage now done via an app on your phone, this means that the app can be updated regularly with new features rather than having an LCD replaced.

Unfortunately there is no data export option the moment so I cannot extract the map to model it or tag large spikes against certain items that consume a higher rate of power.

Also missing for me is linkage to an automation tool such as IFTTT which would also provide a capability to turn things off if the power draw reached a certain limit.

Hopefully these advancements will come along with future app release as we get nearer to the smart home.

In the mean time I will probably spend this weekend driving my family mad by checking the devices pulling energy and what is causing the biggest draws.