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The UK Government has disclosed plans to roll out smart meters to all households in the country over the next ten years.

The announcement was made by energy minister Lord Hunt of Kings Heath during the House of Lords debate on the Energy Bill earlier this week.

“This is a major step forward; no other country in the world has moved to an electricity and gas smart meter roll-out on this scale,” he said.

Over the next two years the Government will develop an implementation plan and aim to complete the roll-out to all households by the end of 2020. The target will be added as an amendment to the Energy Bill.

Smart meters make it easy for consumers to track – and potentially reduce – their energy usage in real time.

According to the Energy Saving Trust, smart meters can help consumers reduce their carbon emissions by 5-10%. If the UK as a whole adopted smart meters and reduced energy usage by 5%, this would save £1.2 billion a year on bills and 7.4 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions.

In a survey conducted earlier this year, the Energy Saving Trust found that around half of UK households would consider installing a smart meter and of those, over 90% would use it to save energy.

For further information:
www.energysavingtrust.org.uk
www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/corporate/Corporate-and-media/Media-centre/Hot-topics/Green-Barometer/Green-Barometer-4-Smart-meters-Clever-Clocks