Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Kevin Brennan and Charles Hendry

Thursday 16th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Charles Hendry]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on his tenacity on this issue and the way in which he continually pushes us to make sure that we keep it very much in our mind. We are involving Ofcom directly in our discussions and our approach to developing this area to ensure that exactly those issues are very much in our mind.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

But what about smart meters that are being installed now which might be incompatible with the meters that will be installed in future? I thought that the Government were abolishing Consumer Focus, not working with it, as the Minister said in his earlier answer. What will he do to protect consumers now from those future costs?

[Charles Hendry]

One of the major operators is installing smart meters as we speak. It is installing many thousands every week, so we have to ensure that the regime we put in place for the longer term takes account of those issues. The operator is, to some extent, doing this at its own risk, because if the meters are not compatible with the longer-term solution they will, in time, have to be removed. The hon. Gentleman is right to say that we need to ensure that in all these areas the consumer interest has to be right, because if we do not get that right, this is the sort of programme that could get stuck in its tracks.