News

Smart Meter Roll-out

Alderney Electricity is beginning a programme to replace existing analogue electricity meters across the island with new digital smart meters.

For customers, this means more accurate and timely meter readings, fewer routine visits to read your meter, better information about your electricity use and, over time, access to improved services and greater choice in how you manage and pay for electricity.

Smart meters will also help us run Alderney’s electricity network more intelligently. They give AEL much better information about what is happening across the low-voltage network that supplies homes and businesses. This will help us identify unusual conditions, emerging voltage problems and areas of the network under increasing pressure - allowing us, where possible, to investigate and act before they develop into faults or interruptions to supply.

The rollout will take place in stages across Alderney. We will contact customers directly before work is planned at their property.

What are the benefits of a smart meter?

At the simplest level, a smart meter means we no longer have to rely so heavily on occasional manual readings to understand how much electricity you have used.

That should mean more accurate bills, fewer estimated readings and fewer visits to your property simply to read the meter.

But the benefits go further than that. Smart meters are an important part of modernising Alderney’s electricity system and will provide the foundation for better customer services in the years ahead.

The Smart Meter Programme will help us to:

• provide more accurate and timely meter readings;
• reduce the need for routine manual meter-reading visits;
• make billing simpler and more accurate;
• improve the management of prepayment accounts;
• give customers better information about their own electricity use;
• help AEL identify problems and emerging pressures on the local electricity network earlier;
• improve our understanding of how Alderney’s low-voltage network is performing, helping us plan maintenance and investment where it is most needed;
• support the increasing use of renewable electricity, electric vehicles and other new technologies without compromising the reliability of the network; and
• provide the platform for new customer services over the lifetime of the meters.

In time, smart meters will also make services such as more frequent billing, improved online information and new types of electricity tariff possible.

For customers, the important point is that a smart meter is not simply a new way for AEL to read your electricity use. It is part of building a more reliable, efficient and responsive electricity service - one that gives you better information while giving us a much clearer picture of the network we are responsible for looking after.

What happens when my meter is replaced?

We will contact you before your meter is due to be changed and provide information about the proposed visit. You will be able to confirm the appointment or contact us if you need to arrange an alternative.

On the day of the installation, an Alderney Electricity engineer will identify themselves and explain the work before starting. Your electricity supply will need to be switched off temporarily while the existing meter is removed and the new meter is installed; this normally takes around 15 - 30 minutes.

Once the new meter has been fitted, the engineer will test and commission it, confirm that it is operating correctly and explain anything you need to know before leaving.

We will then complete the necessary checks to make sure the new meter, readings and electricity account have been correctly updated.

When will you be working in my area?

The rollout will take place in planned areas and customer groups across Alderney rather than attempting to change every meter at the same time.

We will contact you directly before work begins at your property.

For the latest information about where our Smart Meter teams are working and which areas are coming next, visit our Outages & Updates page.

Using your new smart meter

Every customer will receive a paper copy of our Using your smart meter guide when their new meter is installed.

The guide explains the main features of the meter, how to view information on the display, how to take a manual meter reading if needed and what the indicator lights mean.

Find out more information in the AEL Smart Meter Guide

Want to know more about your electricity use?

The Pipit 500 is an in-home display that connects to your smart meter and gives you a convenient way to see useful information about your electricity use from inside your home.

It can show current electricity use, associated costs and historical usage information, and can also receive useful information and messages from Alderney Electricity.

Pipits are available to purchase directly from Alderney Electricity.

Find out more or order your Pipit

Using your Pipit

Customers who have a Pipit can also download our Pipit in-home display guide or visit our pipit-500 page for more information

The guide explains how to use the display, navigate the available information, view electricity-use and cost information, review usage history and understand messages and information shown on the screen.

Prepayment customers

Existing prepayment card meters are also being replaced as part of the Smart Meter programme.

If you currently use a card or prepayment meter, we will explain how the change affects you and how your new prepayment service will operate before it is introduced.

You will receive the information and equipment needed to use the new service, including guidance on checking your account information and adding credit.

A separate prepayment top-up quick guide will provide simple step-by-step instructions explaining how to add credit to your new prepayment smart meter.

We will also make sure that any existing account balance is correctly dealt with as part of the changeover.

Looking ahead

Smart meters provide a modern metering platform that will allow AEL to consider further improvements to customer services in the future.

More frequent billing

Smart meters can provide meter readings remotely, removing much of the practical reliance on quarterly manual meter readings.

This gives AEL the ability to consider moving to monthly billing in the future, helping customers spread their electricity costs more evenly throughout the year.

Any change to billing frequency would be communicated to customers before it is introduced.

More flexible electricity tariffs

The new metering system will also give AEL greater flexibility to develop new types of electricity tariff in the future.

This could include tariffs that better reflect when electricity is being used and the future introduction of export or buy-back tariffs for customers generating electricity from private renewable-energy systems such as solar PV.

These services will not all be introduced immediately, but smart meters provide the technology needed to develop them.

Have a question?

Visit our FAQ page where you can find answers to common questions about the Smart Meter programme, including appointments, access, installation, prepayment, smart-meter information and what happens if your meter cannot be changed during the planned visit.

Need to contact us?

If you have received an appointment and need to change it, have particular access requirements, or would like to speak to us about your smart-meter installation, please contact Alderney Electricity.

smartmeters@alderney-elec.com / 01481 822715