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The Government is being urged to halt the £11bn smart meter roll-out until the devices no longer discourage customers from switching energy supplier. Despite being championed in glossy promotional brochures and television advertisements as a way to save money, most meters of the type currently being widely installed in British homes lose their smart functions if the customer moves to another energy firm.

The Government had set a final date beyond which these “inferior” meters could no longer be installed and a new, upgraded version, which should solve the problems, had to be adopted. But last week plans were announced to push this date back for a second time. This is despite Claire Perry, the Energy Minister, telling Parliament in March that there were no plans to extend the deadline.

Analysis by Telegraph Money of industry data suggests that if the rollout is not halted, almost 1.5 million more of the earlier, substandard meters could be forced on customers.

Switching supplier is widely seen as the best way to save money on your energy bills, but the loss of meters’ smart functions is likely to discourage consumers from taking advantage.

MPs, academics and consumer champions are backing this newspaper’s calls to put the brakes on one of the biggest infrastructure programmes in Britain’s history.

Alan Whitehead, Labour’s shadow energy and climate change minister, said he recognised the eventual benefits of smart meters but described the current situation as “the worst of all worlds”.

He added: “The smart meter rollout has been plagued with problems, continually delayed and over budget. The Government’s handling of this programme has become farcical.”

Conservative MP Adam Afriyie, who once chaired the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, said: “Smart meters were meant to shift power into the hands of consumers so it’s absurd that millions of people will lose crucial functions when they switch supplier.

“The Government has a chance to rescue customers with a swift review of the roll-out scheme to ensure that smart meters aren’t an expensive dead end for consumers.”

Martyn James of Resolver, a consumer complaints service, said most people would rather wait for a new meter that would allow them to switch than be “rushed” into having the more basic model installed now.

He added: “It’s clear that the rollout of smart meters, though wellintentioned, has caused considerable confusion and in some cases distress for consumers. Meters that don’t work or aren’t compatible with new energy providers actually undermine trust in the industry, and anything that puts people off switching or ties them in to a worse deal is unwelcome.”

Even some energy suppliers, which face fines if they do not meet installation targets, have been angered by the proposed delay.

Juliet Davenport, chief executive of Good Energy, which has 260,000 customers, said: “It’s outrageous to expect energy companies to install inferior meters into customers’ homes when we know that better and more efficient technology is available.”

Figures from industry analyst Electralink show that an average of 280,000 smart meters were installed in each of the past 12 months. If installations were to continue at that pace, there would be another 860,000 “dumb” smart meters in British homes before the current cut-off date of Oct 5 for installing the new, switchable, second-generation meters.

But if the Government’s plans to move the cut-off date to Dec 5 were Page 5

The latest Government plans could see 1.5m more inferior first-generation devices installed in British homes. By Sam Meadows