Have you ever come across the term smart meters? If you haven’t, you are not alone as a new report claims only half of Britain has heard of it.

DECC’s new research into public awareness, attitudes and experience of smart meters found most people didn’t know what a smart meter was and although 49% of energy bill-payers had heard of it, they knew very little about the technology.

The news follows the Government’s announcement earlier this year for a roll-out of 53 million smart meters installations in homes and businesses across the UK by 2019.

Smart meters work as a two-way communication between an energy supplier and a household’s electricity and gas meter. Their aim is to help consumers manage their energy use better, save money and reduce emissions.

The research showed although a third showed support for the installation, only one in twenty households have it installed and one in five people were opposed to it. However, the more people felt they knew about smart meters, the more likely they were to support the Government’s plans and get one installed.

When asked which sources of information about smart meters they trusted most, people chose energy companies (33%) as their top choice, followed by Which? magazine (26%), with the Government (17%) and the Energy Saving Trust (16%) last.