I worked from home all day and this is how much our British Gas smart meter charged me

It sits in the hallway, glowing for all to see, a handy yet stress-inducing device that can make or ruin your day at the touch of a button. I'm talking of course about the smart meter, the device that's been the topic of conversation this month as energy bills soar.

More than 24 million of these are already in homes and businesses across the UK, and many householders are joining the huge sign-up lists for one from their energy supplier. They are replacing the traditional meters, including pre-pay key meters, and measure how much gas and electricity you’re using, as well as what it’s costing you.

It turns out the smart meter may actually be an important tool for measuring your energy usage as April sees the energy price cap, set by regulator Ofgem, go up by a whopping 54% if not more for some. The energy price cap, which limits the rates a supplier can charge for each unit of gas and electricity you use, jumped by £693 from £1,277 to £1,971 this month.

Read more:Everything you need to know about the energy crisis if you are a British Gas customer

It's hard to know whether smart meters actually save you money or just cause more stress. They've also caused controversy in the past due to claims of false readings and their radio wave emissions, although a 2020 government report stated that the evidence to date suggests exposures to the radio waves produced by smart meters do not pose a risk to health.

I don't have a smart meter in my home, I'm with E.ON and I'm on a standard tariff, read more about that here, but it's only a matter of time before I probably get one. However, I wanted to see whether smart meters were actually beneficial in the home as well as discovering how much energy one person uses on a typical day.

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