Stupidly high bills

SIR – Reports of customers receiving bills for thousands of pounds due to false information from smart meters (Letters, March 12) are worrying.

Fortunately, the bills were so high as to be ridiculous. But had they only been inflated by, say, £50, the customers might not have noticed. If they had been suspicious, they would no doubt have been reassured that the equipment could not be wrong. SIR – The headlong rush to install smart meters is typical of the illthought-out “good ideas” that governments love.

In order to get the programme under control, electricity meters should be replaced by smart meters only when their certification expires. This takes up to 20 years. The gas meter (which has no nominal life) could be changed at the same time.

This will extend the programme to about 20 years, but will give more time for the system to bed in, avoiding the problems that are prevalent at present.