How smart meters failed Britain

While customers battle faulty devices and crippling bills, Ofgem is considering a plan for dynamic pricing. By Noah Eastwood

Smart meters were sold to Britain as a way of saving energy and ultimately money on our power bills. However, Telegraph Money has spoken to homeowners who say that the devices that send suppliers automatic meter readings are instead leaving them with crippling bills.

It comes as the energy watchdog said on Monday that it was mulling dynamic pricing on smart meters for electricity. It then emerged that ministers had revised up figures for the number of devices that are faulty to almost 4m.

The Government’s roll-out was supposed to have seen a smart meter installed in every home by 2020. The programme is forecast to cost more than £13.5bn and is lagging far behind a revised target to install the devices in 80pc of homes by 2025, with currently only 61pc of households using one.

Under Ofgem’s new plans, bill payers face having to navigate a string of peak and offpeak periods when it is more expensive or cheaper to use household appliances. Prices could even depend on whether the wind is blowing or if the sun is shining, the regulator said.

The National Audit Office said last year that 37pc of smart meter customers surveyed by Smart Energy GB, the company tasked with rolling out the devices, reported having issues with their meter, including a lack of automatic readings and inaccurate bills.

Consumers have questioned large increases to their monthly energy bills that are determined by smart meters.

Mark Thomsett, 53, blamed a smart meter at the assisted accommodation where his autistic son Archie lives for a sudden rise in direct debit payments to EDF from £137 to £898 in March last year.

After the supplier took its first bumper payment, Mr Thomsett cancelled the direct debit. He continued making cash payments at the same price he had previously. But the seemingly unexplained charges kept coming. A large debt built up on the account, which now stands at just under £6,290.

“It’s been horrendous,” he said. “His mother and I work very closely together with regards to my son and we have had to spend an inordinate amount of time on this.”

EDF worked with Mr Thomsett to investigate his billing and refunded his bill from March. The supplier also fitted a second “test” smart meter to determine whether the original one was faulty, but it provided the same readings. It has given his son, who is the named customer on the account, three years to repay the debt.

Mr Thomsett said this was unaffordable on his son’s limited income. He added that the expensive bills had “effectively destroyed his sustainable living situation” and that he planned to move the 20-year-old to alternative accommodation in June.

After Telegraph Money contacted EDF about Mr Thomsett’s case it offered to speak again with him about his concerns. It also said it would speak with an electrician he hired to check his meter, who advised it could be faulty. EDF has paused all debt collection from Mr Thomsett and planned a second assessment of his usage to identify what may have led to a rise in his bills, as well as providing him with additional support.

Alex, who did not wish for his surname to be published, switched to Octopus Energy in September when he moved into his parents’ former house in Dorset. He had heard glowing praise for its customer service.

He had no reason to regret the decision, until he agreed to have a smart meter installed in November. After it went in, energy bills at the property went from historically no more than £100 a month, he said, to just under £735. It was followed by a further bill of almost £800 between January and February this year. His account was left about £1,200 in debt.

The supplier explained that he had been billed for the final meter reading from his old meter when the smart meter was installed. Where he previously gave the supplier his meter readings once every few months, the latest bills were based on the smart meter’s data, Octopus said.

“This was with no change of any kind [on] our end,” Alex said. “The usage was the same, if anything a bit less than before.”

Octopus agreed to have a second test meter fitted, but did not provide Alex with an exact date as to when this would happen.

When Telegraph Money contacted Octopus about Alex’s concerns it arranged for an engineer to check his smart meter. The checks found no evidence that the device was faulty, but Octopus installed a new smart meter and said it would monitor its usage for any errors.

The energy company also said its investigation found that the previous meter at Alex’s property was almost 30 years old and