New research published by the UK-based Carbon Trust has identified that the use of advanced metering by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) could save them £300 million per year and prevent 2.5 million tons of CO2 emissions per year.
The Carbon Trust's trial—reportedly the largest in the UK to date—saw advanced meters installed at over 580 sites across the UK. Results show that by switching to advanced metering, on average SMEs can identify potential carbon savings of over 12 per cent and successfully achieve savings of over 5 per cent.
In addition, the companies that took part in the trial reportedly saved an average of more than £1,000 a year on their energy bills. The largest financial benefits were seen by multi-site businesses, such as retail and wholesale chains, and for high-energy users, such as small manufacturing companies.
The research was part of a three-year Carbon Trust field trial to determine whether there was a case for encouraging the widespread adoption of advanced metering by SMEs. Based on the findings, the Carbon Trust is calling for new policy measures to support the installation of the meters in all SMEs across the UK. Carbon Trust says the use of the technology is currently hindered by the lack of financial incentives for energy suppliers to provide these services to SMEs.
According to Carbon Trust, advanced meters enable businesses to identify energy, cost, and carbon savings by providing detailed information about the way they use their energy. Although this technology is well established in larger companies it is not widely used by small businesses, which currently use over 2.7 million traditional energy meters. The energy consumption through these meters is worth around £6.5 billion per year and leads to emissions of over 50 million tons of CO2 per year, says Carbon Trust.
To order or download a copy of Advanced metering for SMEs (Pub. ID #CTC713) or the executive summary (Pub. ID #CTC714), visit Carbon Trust.
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