What is a smart meter and why is it required?

A smart meter is a digital electricity meter that is connected to the internet. It records your energy consumption every quarter of an hour and automatically sends the data to your electricity supplier every day.

Unlike conventional meters without an internet connection, which have to be read manually, smart meters provide a detailed breakdown of electricity consumption and transmit the data continuously instead of, for example, only once a year.

A smart meter is essential for Dynamic Assistant, which optimizes your grid consumption based on fluctuating electricity prices. The main reason is that you generally cannot use a dynamic electricity tariff without a smart meter. Without the automatic transmission of consumption data every 15 minutes, your electricity provider could not create a correct bill.

Depending on the provider, there can be an exception: a dynamic tariff is sometimes possible even without a smart meter. This works if your electricity provider reads and forwards the data from the infrared interface of your digital meter (which has no internet connection of its own) via an additional device (with an internet connection).

You can only benefit from the Dynamic Assistant optimization with a dynamic or time-based tariff. It uses price fluctuations by flexibly adapting the electricity consumption of your energy system and connected devices to favorable time windows.