Great to see – as a result of our Smart Metering and HMOs project – that HMO landlords are now explaining to each other the benefits of the new meters.
On the excellent Property Tribes website HMO thread landlords have given their thoughts on the value of the new meters:
RefurbtoRent commented:
“I have them at all properties where they are available. No more estimated bills or requests to read the meter. Online up to date access to accurate consumption data. The in-home display is trivial in comparison to the removal of one more pain in the neck (its in a cupboard somewhere)!”
Allan Pritchard said:
“I had them installed in all my HMOs, they are a god send, an end to estimated billing.
The possibility of falling behind on my energy at single property multiplied by the number of properties could have had a significant impact on cash flow, which caused me to spend alot of time taking monthly reads and cross checking with estimated bills.
Now, I just go off what comes out of the bank every month and cross reference that with what has been paid for the cards that go in the card meters.
again, no idea what happens to the in-home display”
As we can see HMO landlords are very pleased with the more accurate billing, but perhaps less interested in the role of the in-home display which provides live energy-use information to tenants. Future Climate are keen to emphasise to landlords the benefits of working with tenants to help them use the in-home display device.
Future Climate has put together special smart meter guidance for landlords and tenants available at:
