If you let the electricity people install a smart meter you can expect your bills to rocket

SIR – The purpose of “smart meters” (Letters, June 26) is to allow the eventual introduction of charging of domestic users at different rates according to the time of day, the day of the week and the season of the year.

Power companies already know when we use most energy in the aggregate but, except for very large energy users, they are at present unable to bill individual customers according to the exact time that energy is used.

Smart meters will allow them to do this, so if you are unreasonable enough to want to turn the lights on when it gets dark, or cook food at mealtimes, or charge the electric car that the Government wants to force you to have, ready for the morning commute, then you will be hit with penal levels of billing.

These meters are voluntary now, but they won’t be voluntary for ever. You do not have to have a water meter, but if your house has one, you are forbidden to go back to water rates, though metered water probably costs you about half as much again as rated water.

Eventually, if you have a smart meter for energy there will be no going back and you can expect your bills to rocket. The lucky few will be those living in houses where a smart meter was never installed.

Anyone who does not believe this should cut this letter out and keep it – and read it in daylight, obviously. Dr Richard Austen-baker

Abbeystead, Lancashire

SIR – Until 2003 I was responsible for the type approval of gas and electricity meters at Ofgem’s Technical Directorate. After this I spent several years on European and international committees negotiating measurement standards for next-generation meters.

Only common sense can show how savings can be achieved. For instance, smart meters will show what it takes to run a washing-machine cycle but they cannot advise that it would have saved energy to await a full load.

A smart meter can tell you what an appliance uses under certain conditions if you take the trouble to ensure all other appliances are off at the time. However, this information is readily available in manufacturers’ data.

An estimated cost of £200 for each meter will add at least £20 to bills each year, as it is the consumer who will pay for these “free” meters eventually. Smart meters give only freedom from estimated bills or a visit from the meter reader. However, suppliers are now very good at estimating usage and a periodic visit by the meter reader can allow safety or measurement problems to be checked.

The meter suppliers and fitters enjoy the increased business and profit that fitting smart meters brings. The Government is supporting the programme, but this seems to me like its encouragement for switching to diesel cars some years ago.

I believe that the hidden agenda behind smart meters is that they will allow half-hourly charging. Instead of having two charge rates (day and night) the price of energy will change every half hour, so when solar and wind generation are low and usage is high the price of electricity will rise steeply.

What would make more sense than smart meters is smart appliances that could be automatically switched on or off depending on electricity-grid demand. For instance, fridges, freezers and some battery chargers could be switched off at peak demand periods, as could some washing machines and dryers.

It is claimed that smart meters are safe and secure. Not having one, because they are not needed, is even more safe and secure. Jerry Fulton

Draycott, Somerset

SIR – You cannot fatten a pig by weighing it and by the same token you cannot reduce your electricity consumption simply by measuring it with a smart meter. Crombie Glennie

Hawksworth, Nottinghamshire