After a five-year test period, new ‘smart’ energy meters are being installed in homes throughout the Principality, helping to reduce power usage and cut bills.
The high-tech Nexio meter will be installed in tens of thousands of Monegasque homes over the next eighteen months. The new meters are the Société Monégasque de l’Electricité et du Gaz’s (SMEG) response to the country’s energy transition plans, offering several advanced functions not possible in the old-fashioned systems.
Nexio will be able to transmit data directly to the electric company without the need to disturb customers. They will also have the ability to send information at more regular intervals, allowing the company and households to catch discrepancies or unusual usage faster than was traditionally possible. It also allows customers to better monitor general usage and make adjustments when energy consumption is exceeding normal capacity, thus saving them money.
Every customer will have at their fingertips the personalised information needed to assess energy use. This information is meant to help them better understand, act and potentially reduce the amount of power consumed on a daily basis. Additionally, it is completely confidential between contract holders and SMEG, with encrypted and secure systems to ensure cyber-safety.
Replacing the meter will be easy for customers. In 90% of cases, SMEG will not even need the user to be present, and the change-over takes a mere half an hour with only a 15 minute interruption of service. The replacement is free of charge, and the old meters will be sent to a non-profit environmental association that recycles electrical and electronic equipment.
The Nexio meters have been operational at the Tour Odéon since 2015, where they were extensively tested before being launched into public use.