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UK ministers ‘have failed to convince public of smart meter benefits’
Rollout of devices across households has been lacklustre, says the public accounts committee in a report
The delayed smart energy meter rollout has failed to meet its targets because ministers have not done enough to convince households of their benefits, according to the public accounts committee (PAC).
The government watchdog called on ministers to set out how they plan to convince the public to take up a smart meter after a “troubled” rollout that began in 2011.

The committee has also urged the government to disclose the costs of the programme, which are ultimately paid for through energy bills, in a report to parliament every year.
The government has pushed back the date by which it hoped that all homes and businesses would have a smart meter three times since it first proposed a deadline of 2019. It currently hopes to reach about 75% of homes and 70% of small businesses by 2025.
Meg Hillier, the Labour MP who is chair of the committee, said: “Some 15 years later and four years after that missed target, and its vision of access and support for every household to control their energy efficiency remains a distant one.”

“On top of this, smart meters have serious reputational obstacles to overcome with the public,” Hillier said, citing reports of people being forced on to prepayment meters.
Late last year it emerged that firms had been remotely switching customers on to pay-as-you-go tariffs through their smart meters. Separately, energy firms have been temporarily banned from physically fitting prepayment meters under warrant.

The committee found that the public has not been convinced by smart meters during a rollout which has left millions of homes with faulty meters.
About 3 million smart meters, almost 10% of those installed, were not working as they should have been by March 2023, according to the report. In addition millions more could be affected when the 2G and 3G mobile communication networks close, it added.

AE-NMidlands wrote: ↑Sun Oct 22, 2023 11:06 am https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... r-benefits saying

I just do not believe that the general public will save energy simply because they can see the hourly consumption, and if they go onto economy 7 tarrifs they will be tempted to run washing machines etc overnight, which seriously increases the consequences of the fire risk.

AGT wrote: ↑Sun Oct 22, 2023 11:31 am What data is there to prove that washing machines like to catch fire at night rather than during the day?

AE-NMidlands wrote: ↑Sun Oct 22, 2023 5:03 pm Nobody is saying don't bother with a smoke alarm - we have 2.
Just if the fire services say they have seen a pattern of risks it seems silly to ignore them. I suppose things that have to run have to run, but there's no point adding risk from things which don't need to run.