Melanie Onn
Main Page: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Bill Esterson
The hon. Lady is on to what we will report on in the second half of our inquiry; we took evidence along those lines in yesterday’s session. The House also heard yesterday from the Secretary of State, with the announcement of the warm homes plan, about the support that will be available for the technologies that the hon. Lady mentioned, so I hope that her question has been heard by those on the Treasury Bench.
Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) (Lab)
It is welcome that the Government agreed with the Select Committee that we should be more ambitious about smart meter roll-out, so that household customers can get the best tariffs for them. We also heard evidence that there was a lack of consumer confidence in smart meters. Does the Chair of the Select Committee think that there is more that the Government could do to rekindle that confidence for the benefit of consumers?
Bill Esterson
The low take-up of smart meters is one of the big challenges that faces the energy market. It is very much linked to some of the problems that customers have around the country. I mentioned in my statement that just having a smart meter cuts bills by 3%, before even investigating the access it gives to a range of tariffs. Anything that can be done to improve the roll-out must make a difference. We also heard evidence from Martin Lewis about the importance of this matter. Giving people more access to tariffs is part of what the Government want to do, and it is consistent with the evidence that we heard. How we increase the smart meter roll-out will be key; clearly, it has not gone well so far.