Faulty smart meters mean millions miss out on any benefits

Millions of households are missing out on the benefits of their smart meter because of faults and poor service from suppliers, Citizens Advice has warned.

More than half of British homes now have a smart meter but customer service is often “nowhere to be found” when problems arise with them, the consumer charity said.

It has called for new rules to ensure energy firms identify and fix problems as quickly as possible. It was particularly worried that people could end up with huge unexpected bills if their supplier was not able to take an automatic reading for an extended time.

Rules allow suppliers to “back bill” customers for an entire year whether they have a smart meter or not, but Citizens Advice want this cut to six months to avoid hefty catch-up bills.

A survey for the group found 20 per cent of households with a smart meter, or 2.86 million households, still have to regularly submit manual meter readings because their device is not doing this automatically.

Almost a third (31 per cent) experienced issues with their in-home display screen which is meant to help households track their energy usage and costs.

A quarter of those who asked Citizens Advice for help with smart meter issues had billing problems.

In some cases, shock catch-up bills of £1,000 or more were sent to customers after meters went unchecked by suppliers for more than a year.

Government figures show that more than 10 per cent of the meters were not working properly by the end of 2023 but Citizens Advice said it believed the actual figure was much higher.

It wants suppliers to be forced to meet new guaranteed standards of performance, which would ensure timely diagnosis of issues and repairs with affected consumers automatically compensated if these were not met.

It also wants customers not to be left in limbo when suppliers blame issues on the Data Communications Company, which is responsible for the technology’s network, leaving smart users unable to get some issues resolved directly.

Dame Clare Moriarty, the Citizens Advice chief executive, said: “The whole point of smart meters is to empower households to save energy and money, but in reality millions are missing out on those benefits due to problems with technology and poor supplier service.

“Energy companies are very keen for customers to get a smart meter but when issues arise they are often nowhere to be found. That has to change.

“Suppliers have been far too sluggish in fixing issues with problem meters.

“New obligations and stronger accountability measures are needed to restore public trust in this vital tool to reach net zero.”

A Smart Energy GB spokesman said: “The vast majority of smart meters are operating as they should and it’s good to see this report highlight that most owners are happy with them, benefiting from the ability to better manage their energy use and access smart products and more flexible energy tariffs.

“However, if you’re among the minority with a smart meter that isn’t sending readings automatically to your supplier then we understand this can be frustrating.

“Please be assured that if your meter isn’t sending readings it should still be recording your energy use and your energy won’t cost you more.

“We would recommend that you contact your supplier if you experience an issue and send them regular meter readings to make sure you receive accurate, rather than estimated, bills until all of the features of your smart meter have been restored.”

Savanta surveyed 4,000 domestic energy consumers between August and October 2023.