Not So Smart Meters

An £11 billion project to install smart meters in every home by 2020 will cut energy bills by just £11-a-year, a report has found.

19:57 31 July 2018

Smart meters, which are set to be installed in every home by 2020, will help us cut our energy bills by just £11 every year, a report has found. The findings have prompted a cross-party committee to call for an urgent review of the scheme, which they described as ‘over time, over budget and mismanaged’

 

Smart meters are designed to track how much energy customers are using and make bills more accurate as they are no longer based on estimates. However, a report found that many smart meters have stopped working after customers have switched suppliers or due to bad mobile phone signal.

 

Tory MP Grant Shapps, who is chairman of the group, said: ‘Over 90 parliamentarians are stepping in to ask ministers to ensure the smart meter roll-out acts in the interests of consumers. Smart meter technology, which promised to help consumers, looks in severe danger of predominantly benefiting electricity suppliers instead.

 

‘Currently the smart meter roll-out is going to be delivered over time, over budget and with consumers quite literally picking up the tab for supplier mismanagement.’ The report found more than half of the one million customers with a smart meter who annually switch provider are left with a gadget which has lost its smart features.