British Gas boss says every home should be made to install a smart meter

The chief executive of Centrica, the parent company of British Gas, Chris O’Shea, has issued a stark warning about the future of smart metering in the UK. He stated that a “street by street” approach is needed to meet the goals for the implementation of smart meters.

During his speech to MPs on the House of Commons Energy Select Committee, O’Shea stressed the importance of mass adoption of smart meters to achieve the UK’s net zero targets. He pointed out that smart meters will play a crucial role in managing household energy consumption to prevent demand from outstripping supply.

O’Shea explained that smart meters would be instrumental in varying charges at peak times, such as early evenings, to encourage the shift of energy use to less busy periods. This strategy aims to offer cheaper electricity rates at times such as overnight, which could benefit activities such as charging electric vehicles and operating appliances such as washing machines or dishwashers.

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Proponents of smart meters suggest that this advanced management of the nation’s energy through a “smart grid” could negate the need to build additional power plants, ultimately leading to lower bills for everyone. In his evidence, Mr O’Shea called for a collective “street-by-street, rather than customer-to-customer” deployment of smart meters over the next five years.

He said: “We believe that in order to have the proper smart grid that is needed to keep costs down in the future, everyone should have a smart meter,” reports the Express. “One of the things we should consider is whether this is a voluntary program or whether it should be mandatory.”

A number of households have rejected offers from their energy companies to install smart meters, with some expressing doubts about the functionality of the devices. Mr O’Shea revealed that more than one in three British Gas customers have turned down offers to install a smart meter.

The chief executive, who earned £8m last year, informed MPs: “I have customers writing to me saying, ‘Please stop bothering me. I don’t want a smart meter.

“We found that 44% of our customers don’t have them, of which 600,000, or about 8%, said they didn’t want one. So for 36% of customers we’re not sure if they’re going to get one or not.”

Ofgem, the industry watchdog, criticized British Gas and other leading energy retailers for not doing enough to persuade households to get a smart meter. In November last year, six suppliers were hit with £10.8m in fines for failing to meet smart meter rollout targets. British Gas alone was told to pay £3.4m.

Smart Energy GB, a not-for-profit group that supports the use of smart meters, said almost 35 million of the devices now exist in homes and businesses nationwide. Unfortunately, about 4 million are not working as expected due to problems with the first generation units that were installed.

Gillian Cooper, who heads the energy division at Citizens Advice, spoke of her serious concerns about the failures of these smart meters, saying: “Smart meters can bring huge benefits. But when things go wrong, we know it can be incredibly frustrating for energy. customers, whether it’s a higher-than-expected bill or problems when your smart meter is offline.”

She pointed out that getting smart meter issues resolved quickly is a common struggle for many people, adding to her concerns about their inadequate rights. In response, Smart Energy GB said: “There are now almost 35 million smart meters (representing 61 per cent of all meters) in the UK. “The vast majority are working as intended, with an overall improvement in the proportion of smart meters operating in smart mode from 2022, from 87.3% at the end of 2022 to 88.6% at the end of 2023.”

They recognized that while most people have a highly satisfactory experience with their smart meter, they appreciate how frustrating it can be for those whose meter can only work temporarily without all of its smart features. They assured customers that if their smart meter does not send automatic readings to their energy supplier, it will still record the correct energy consumption. They advised customers to send their meter readings to their suppliers to ensure they receive accurate rather than estimated bills until all of their smart meter features are restored.

Ofgem said suppliers, under their licence, must take all reasonable steps to ensure they can communicate with their customers’ smart meters. The regulator further clarified that if a meter loses its smart functionality, it should still accurately measure usage as before and customers will still have the option to manually read their meter in the traditional way.

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