The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Money
‘This could become an expensive dead end for consumers’
adopted, another 560,000 would be needlessly installed – a total of 1.4 million over the next five months. So far, more than 11 million smart meters have been installed in British homes.
Fewer than 2,000 of the new generation of meters, which should be fully switchable, have been installed. The old smart meters will eventually be connected to a new national data network, which the Government says will fix the switching problems, but this could take until the end of next year. Announcing the plans to push back the cut-off date, the Government said more time was needed to test the new breed of meters properly.
A spokesman for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which is responsible for the roll-out, said: “Smart meters are giving millions of households control of their energy use, helping them to save money on their bills.”
He added: “The roll-out of second-generation meters is well under way and we’re encouraging suppliers to ramp this up as well as setting a deadline for the installation of first-generation smart meters.”
Robert Cheesewright of Smart Energy GB, the industry-funded body tasked with promoting the roll-out, said that unless you switched supplier frequently there was no reason to wait for a second-generation smart meter.
“All smart meters – regardless of what type you have fitted – give you accurate bills and help you to save energy and money,” he added. “It’s also really important to remember that smart meters do not stop you switching suppliers. In fact, people with smart meters are more likely to have switched suppliers or tariffs in the past 12 months than those who don’t have them. We know that some people with first-generation smart meters have experienced problems maintaining smart functionality when switching suppliers.
“We recognise the frustration this causes, but this is a temporary issue and all first-generation smart meters will be enrolled into a new national communications network to make switching quicker and easier.”