- Chris O’Shea has called for a ‘street by street’ installation of smart meters
- Have you had issues with your smart meter? Email: [email protected]
The boss of British Gas has said that every home should be forced to have a smart meter in a bid to meet net zero targets.
Chris O’Shea’s comments come two months after government data found that almost four million smart meters across Britain are not working properly leading to customers being overcharged for energy bills.
Speaking at the House of Commons energy select committee, the chief executive of Centrica – which owns British Gas – called for a ‘street by street rather than customer to customer’ installation for the devices over a five year period.
He said: ‘We think that in order to have the proper smart grid that’s required to keep costs low in the future, everybody should have a smart meter. One of the things we should consider as to whether this is a voluntary programme, or whether it should be mandatory.’
Mr O’Shea went on to claim that more than a third of British Gas’ seven and a half million customers had ignored offers to install a smart meter.
Chris O’Shea, the boss of British Gas. Mr O’Shea has said that every home should be forced to have a smart meters in a bid to meet net zero targets
Mr O’Shea’s comments come two months after it was found that almost four million smart meters across Britain are not working properly leading to customers being overcharged for energy bills (stock image)
The ceo, who was paid £8 million last year, said: ‘I have customers that write to me saying, “Please stop bothering me. I don’t want a smart meter.”
‘We found that 44 per cent of our customers don’t have them, of whom 600,000, or about 8 per cent, have said they don’t want one.
‘So for 36 per cent of customers we are not sure whether they will take one or not.’
He argued that if the government ‘mandated’ a smart meter installation scheme, they could be installed by 2029.
According to The Times, about 32 million people in Britain have smart meters which is about 60 per cent of all domestic meters in the country.
In December 2023, One woman was charged £900 without warning by her smart meter.
Paula McCracken, from East Yorkshire, said her smart meter had never worked properly and she was overcharged despite taking regular manual readings.
Mr O’Shea said: ‘I have customers that write to me saying, ‘Please stop bothering me. I don’t want a smart meter.’ ‘We found that 44 per cent of our customers don’t have them, of whom 600,000, or about 8 per cent, have said they don’t want one’ (stock image)
The 48-year-old said EDF Energy took more than £900 from her account twice with no warning, leaving her with a ‘my £500 overdraft fully taken’.
She said she was refunded on both occasions but not straight away.
‘If I had no family and friends around me to lend me a bit of money for shopping and things, I would have been completely penniless with two children for a week,’ she said.
At the time, EDF Energy apologised and admitted it ‘fell short’.
