Users can’t recoup £11 billion smart meter cost

SIR – The cost to us all of the smart meter programme (at £11 billion for 22 million homes) works out at about £500 per installation.

So if each one saves £11 a year, it will take at least 45 years to recoup the costs – in reality much longer, if at all. This nonsense needs to stop now. John Wainwright

Wakefield, West Yorkshire

SIR – Last year I agreed to accept a smart meter. The installer spent all day trying – and failing – to make a number of smart meters work, on each attempt turning off the power for up to 20 minutes. Eventually he gave up, took out the smart meter and replaced it with a new stupid meter.

I work on a day rate, and lost a day’s income to the power interruptions. It would take more than 45 years at £11 a year to break even on the smart meter I don’t even have, and that’s assuming I lived to 96. Eppie Anderson

Tansor, Northamptonshire SIR – Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. The roll-out of smart meters is a key mechanism to provide consumers with data enabling them to make measurable energy savings, particularly around insulation and heating.

Research such as my own looks at how, for instance, we can use dynamic energy pricing data to programme electrical heating systems and things such as tumble dryers to use cheaper electricity during off-peak times. Dr Richard Fitton

University of Salford, Lancashire

SIR – To add value to my house, the estate agent’s particulars will say: “No smart meter and no water meter fitted.” Paul Richmond

Godalming, Surrey

SIR – It’s time for Smartgate to join Dieselgate, and go down accordingly. Adrian Patrick

Bourton on the Water, Gloucestershire