Rolling out intelligent energy meters could help the UK reduce its energy usage by up to 15 per cent, five times current government estimates, the world’s biggest smart meter maker has said.

Answering Energy Source readers’ questions, Cameron O’Reilly and Steve Cunningham, the CEO and UK and Ireland chief (respectively) of Landis+Gyr, said the UK was being too pessimistic in their forecast for how much impact smart meters could make.

They said:

Even if the immediate benefit seen by home owners is the 2-3 per cent saving that the UK government’s model assumes, it is still a profoundly valuable exercise.

But we seriously doubt that those conservative savings will be the best that the UK achieves. Landis+Gyr’s experience is that deployments which have focused on encouraging energy budgeting have delivered usage reductions of 10-15 per cent, even when they have had far less sophisticated capabilities than those planned here. Our energy retailers are some of the most innovative in the world – it would be a surprise if, in partnership with their customers, they couldn’t at least match those figures.