Are energy firms using new smart meters to stop you switching supplier?
UP To 4,000 homes a day are being fitted with digital smart meters, which have to be turned off if customers want to find a cheaper deal.
Gas and electricity firms have launched a huge push to encourage customers to scrap standard electricity meters and replace them with digital ones, which monitor your energy consumption every second.
These devices are supposed to help households save hundreds on their bills by helping them cut consumption.
But anyone having one installed now may not realise that the gadgets will be useless if they want to switch to another energy firm.
In order to change supplier, they must turn off the device or remove it and have a new one installed.
Mark Todd, co-founder of comparison site Energy Helpline, says: ‘It seems completely crazy for energy companies to have been marketing these meters so aggressively because, as soon as you switch them off, they become worthless.
‘It seems as though energy firms are signing up customers to these smart meters in order to keep them hostage.’
An estimated 50 million homes will be fitted with a smart meter by 2020 under an £11 billion Government scheme.
over the past three years, an estimated two million households have had one installed. The installation is done by the energy company you are currently with, and there is no upfront cost.
But customers frequently do not realise that these devices must be switched off if they want to move to another supplier. This is because each energy company has smart meters that use different software to process data about how much energy is being used.
As a result, energy companies cannot read the information sent by smart meters that have been fitted by other firms.
Douglas Hutton, 65, had a smart meter fitted by E.on in May. His £ 1,315- a- year fixed gas and electricity deal with the energy firm expires this month.
But the retired finance director was told that when his current deal runs out on January 26, his bills with E.on would rise 22 pc to £1,600 a year.
Douglas visited a price comparison site and found a deal for £1,100 a year with another energy firm. It was then that he discovered he was unable to switch, because his smart meter was not compatible with another supplier.
now, Douglas, of Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, faces either turning off his smart meter to be able to switch, waiting for it to become compatible with other devices or having it removed.
‘I wish I had never had the thing installed,’ he says. ‘ It seems as though it was all a waste of time.’
Anyone who has a smart meter fitted from october will be able to move their tariff. This is when a computer system — the national communications infrastructure — will be introduced. It will ensure all smart meters are compatible.
But many homes with a smart meter fitted before october face having to wait years for the software in their device to be upgraded — although some can switch now and keep their smart meter.
As of September last year, of the 1.66 million meters fitted, an estimated one in every 11 has had to be switched off by homeowners. Smart meters have already sparked controversy. Money Mail revealed in november that energy firms were set to use digital smart meters as a way of doubling the cost of power when families need it most — adding nearly £60 a year to the average bill. This is because firms will use the technology to ramp up energy costs at peak times — such as during popular TV programmes, or in the early evening — and reduce its price at times when power is less in demand, for instance in the early hours of the morning.
Claire Maugham, director of communications and policy at the Government programme behind smart meters, Smart Energy GB, says: ‘ In the past, older, analogue meters have been one of the barriers to people shopping around for their energy, and smart meters make it easier to find out if you’re on the best deal.
‘However, until the launch of the national communications infrastructure for smart meters later this year, some may find that, after switching supplier, their meters temporarily lose smart functionality.
‘once this is complete, smart meters will return to operating in fully smart mode.’
An E.on spokesman says: ‘If customers choose to leave us for another supplier, their smart meter would simply operate like a traditional meter — we would stop receiving information about the customer’s consumption and their new supplier would instead take on responsibility for collecting their meter readings.
‘ We are working with Government and the rest of the industry to help ensure that smart meter customers will be able to move between suppliers without losing the smart functionality of their meters.’
A Department of Energy and Climate Change spokesman says: ‘Every home in Britain will be able to have a smart meter by 2020, bringing an end to estimated bills and giving people more control of their energy.
‘Anyone who has a smart meter instal led before the national communications infrastructure links up later this year can still switch to a better deal. For some, their smart meters will keep operating in smart mode and, for others, the meter will operate the same as an old one.’