Preparations for the roll-out of smart meters

30 June 2011: According to a National Audit Office (NAO) report released today “There are major risks the Department of Energy and Climate Change must address to achieve value for money from its £11.3 billion national programme to install ‘smart’ electricity and gas meters in all homes and smaller non-domestic premises in Great Britain from 2014 to 2019.” Amongst the conclusions made in the report, the NAO highlight that DECC “expects smart meters to help the average dual fuel 7 customer to save £23 a year by 2020, if they change their energy use in line with the Department’s estimates. This overall benefit depends on suppliers minimising costs and passing on all their efficiency savings through their prices.” Further information on the recent smart meter trials mentioned in the NAO report are set out in Ofgem’s Energy Demand Research Project published earlier this week.