Smart Meters
The following is the response by the Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the hon. Member for Hereford and South Herefordshire (Jesse Norman), to a topical question asked by the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Steve McCabe) on 14 March 2017.
I thought the Minister was a touch complacent in his earlier answer on smart meters given that this will cost the taxpayer £11 billion by the end of the Parliament. What is he going to do about the fact that they do not work when a customer switches supplier?
The smart meter programme should be judged on its long-term effect. It will save £47 billion by the end of that decade.
[Official Report, 14 March 2017, Vol. 623, c. 178.]
Letter of correction from Jesse Norman:
An error has been identified in a response I gave to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Steve McCabe) during topical questions.
The correct answer should have been:
The smart meter programme should be judged on its long-term effect. It will save £47 per year on a household’s energy bill by 2030.”