Until recently, when energy suppliers wanted to know how much you owed them, they’d send a meter reader round, they’d go under your stairs, write some numbers down and then they’d send you a bill. Or you had to do it yourself and if you didn’t, your bill was estimated.
Now the government has introduced smart meters and energy suppliers are going to keep sending you texts, letters and calling you until you get one…
Smart meters are the new generation of gas and electricity meters which promise to save you time, money and energy. No more scrabbling under the stairs with a torch then. But whether you have one or not, there are plenty of energy saving tips.
Alexis has one and is on team smart meter. So on his investigation, he wants to learn why over 40% of British households still haven’t got one over 10 years since the rollout began. He discovers that actually smart meters can have an adverse effect on our mental health with people becoming obsessed and then anxious when they can’t save anymore. And he comes across more and more horror stories of unbelievably inaccurate bills and smart meters going dumb.
But Alexis shrugs off stories of privacy invasion because it’s not like they know what appliances we’re using. Wrong! Alexis makes his biggest discovery when he learns smart meters are cleverer than we think and the data harvested could be monetised and sold.
So, do they live up to the government's promise or should we listen to the horror stories?
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