Smart meters cause billing chaos for UK energy customers
Nearly half of energy-bill complaints now link to smart meter problems. Governmentʼs multi-billion pound program faces major setbacks as millions of devices stop working properly
About half of UK energy-bill complaints come from smart-meter users‚ with thousands getting wrong bills (this year between Jan-Oct). Citizens Advice reports that from 52‚000 worried customers; 49% had smart-meter related issues
The governmentʼs £13.5bn smart-meter program isnt going as planned — only 61% of homes have these devices‚ way below the target of 74.5% by mid-2025. Whats more concerning: 4.3m meters are just sitting there not working right (sending wrong data or no data at all)
Installation numbers look pretty bad too; energy companies put in 663‚167 meters in spring-summer 2024 which is 15% less than last year: its the lowest number in 8 years if you dont count covid times
When youʼre faced with numbers that dont add up‚ it can at best be confusing and at worst ignite financial anxiety
Consumer champion Martin Lewis wrote to Ed Miliband pointing out that about 19% of installed meters dont work right: thats almost 7m out of 36.2m meters across Britain. The Department for Energy Security says theyre working on fixing these issues; but for now many people are stuck with in-accurate bills and meter readings
- Some customers got shock bills over £1‚000
- Meters often fail to send updates to suppliers
- Many devices dont communicate with home displays
- Problems with recording top-ups exist
The government department admits that “consumer experience has not been good enough“ and promises to make new plans to fix the roll-out soon: meanwhile Citizens Advice wants Ofgem to limit back-billing to six months for people with smart meters
