Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what reduction in the consumption of (a) gas and (b) electricity the median household is required to make in order to achieve her Department's forecast of the net benefit of the smart meters programme.

Our central estimate of the energy savings to households set out in the Smart Metering Impact Assessment is a mean of 2% for gas and 2.8% for electricity (both for customers with credit meters). These energy saving assumptions are at the conservative end of the spectrum, based on international evidence. Our modelling in addition takes into account that other policies with consumption reducing effects have been introduced before smart metering.