Smart Meters Bill (Second sitting)

Debate between Alan Whitehead and Giles Watling

Committee Debate: 2nd Sitting: House of Commons
Tuesday 21st November 2017 Public Bill Committees

[Dr Whitehead]

Q Briefly, on that particular issue, one thing that smart meters may well do—we have heard that they do—is enable you to use energy more effectively. To paraphrase Dr Fitton, although a smart meter might tell you very smartly, “This is exactly how the energy you are using goes out through the roof and windows of your house and through your walls,” and that may well be useful information, it does not actually make your home any more efficient. Is there any evidence that smart meters can lead people to go that step further, or do we still need smarter meters that tell you, “Actually, your house is really inefficient; what you ought to do is make your house more efficient, and then your smart meter will work even better”?

Dr Sarah Darby: If you really want to see how heat is leaking from your home, you want thermography. When people are shown thermal imaging of their homes, it can have quite a dramatic effect, because you can absolutely see where it is leaking out. That is the most powerful way of doing it. A smart meter can just tell you, “This is what you are using now; this is what you used last week.” You remember, “Oh, yes. Last week we had the whole football team round having hot showers,” or something like that. You can link cause and effect to some extent. This is what you used, compared with several months ago. You can see seasonal effects and so on. You can work things out.

Ideally, you need to be able to put all that together with other sources of information. Another thing we find is that when people get their feedback from different sources, that has more effect than if they are getting it from just one. Ideally, you would see the smart meter information as part of a rich mix that people get gradually more familiar with and that they talk about with other people; they can find out what to do with that information and try to find ways of using it.

[Giles Watling (Clacton) (Con)]

Q One concern you mentioned, Dr Darby, was too much of a rush to roll out the smart meters, because installation might be compromised. Secondly, and interestingly, you said that you feel people might be pressured into adopting smart meters and, therefore, not engage in the process; I think I have read that right. Do you have any evidence that that might be being addressed—that people are beginning to understand the benefits and the process involved?

Dr Sarah Darby: I have not heard of any serious push-back on this. I have heard one or two accounts anecdotally that people are feeling under a bit of pressure from their supplier that they really ought to be getting a smart meter now. One woman said to me she was holding out for as long as she could. She was not particularly against a smart meter but she was curious to see how long the supplier was going to keep pushing her.