Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the effect of the capital costs of the smart meters programme on households' electricity and gas bills in each decile in the household income distribution range.

The assessment of bill impacts on households is carried out to capture all costs that arise from the roll-out of smart meters and includes capital as well as operational expenditure. DECC has not carried out any assessments of household bills that consider the impacts of capital costs alone, but considers the overall impact of its policies on household bills in the annual report “Estimated Impacts of energy and climate change policies on energy prices and bills”.

Evidence from the Energy Demand Research Project (EDRP) trials, published in 2011, has shown that with regards to benefits households in areas with a higher propensity for fuel poverty can benefit at least as much as other households in terms of the percentage energy savings they can realise.

Furthermore, all households over time stand to gain from the efficiency savings to the energy industry which the smart meter system is expected to generate, regardless of further bill savings from reducing their consumption.