Smart meters could push up costs and lead to debt management
Smart meters could push up costs and lead to debt management
Tuesday 8th December 2009
That is according to new figures from uSwitch, which reveal that the costs of rolling out the new infrastructure could push annual bills into thousands of pounds.
Recently, industry regulator Ofgem announced its latest 5-year deal with energy companies with bills rising on average by £4.30 per year to help pay for £7.2 billion of upgrades in the distribution network.
However, uSwitch says that an additional £233.5 billion is needed to fund the installation of smart meters across the UK.
The government has promoted smart meters as reducing energy bills by helping people cut their consumption and make environmentally-friendly decisions.
Plans were announced earlier this year by the Department for Energy and Climate Change for all homes to be fitted with a smart meter by 2020.
For people struggling with rising energy costs, debt management plans and debt consolidation loans are just two options which could help financially.
The charity National Energy Action (NEA) has questioned what benefits smart meters will bring for those suffering from fuel poverty.
Maria Wardrobe, director of communications at the NEA said: "Smart meters may bring financial benefits to energy suppliers and more affluent customers, but the advantage to vulnerable and fuel-poor people is less certain.
"NEA is concerned that additional information provided by smart metering will simply emphasise the unaffordable cost of fuel and lead to more vulnerable households turning their heating down or even off during spells of cold weather."
News article brought to you by Debt1 – The debt consolidation company
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