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Smart meter targets will be missed as cost skyrockets

GOVERNMENT targets to install fuel smart meters in every home will not be met and the cost of rollouts is likely to “escalate” beyond expectations, the public spending watchdog has warned.

Up to 53 million smart meters were due to be installed by the end of 2020, saving households an average of £18 a year between 2013 and 2030 after meeting the costs of the programme.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s latest 2016 estimate that the programme will cost £11 billion — or £374 per dual fuel household — “underestimates the true cost of rolling out smart meters,” the report by the National Audit Office (NAO) reveals today.

This has since increased by at least half a billion pounds, or the equivalent of an extra £17 per household, it says.

The NAO reveals that the rollout has struck a number of issues, such as when 70 per cent of first generation smart meters “go dumb” when people switch to a new supplier.

It also criticised energy suppliers for “falling short of their obligation” to provide consumers with advice on how to save energy, which was likely to limit how much money they could save with their smart meters.

Fuel poverty charity National Energy Action (NEA) said the report’s conclusions are valid but must be responded to swiftly so there are no further delays to ending estimated billing and making “pay as you go” payments much more convenient for customers.

 

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