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Energy Bill

I thank the Minister for his response—but maybe I should qualify that, because I thought that smart metering was a foregone conclusion and we were moving forward. I believe that it will be, because the opposition parties have signed up to it and it will be in the manifestos for the next election—although it would take a crystal ball to see the result of that. The Minister pointed out the difficulties associated with the consultation process, which we do not underestimate. The noble Lord, Lord O’Neill, gave the impression that we somehow thought that this is very easy matter of just taking the meter out of the box and installing it. I have been to a vast number of meetings, as the noble Lord probably has, looking at all the different options for what might be available within the cost ratio being looked at for smart meters. We believe that a timescale is important because it will have a massive effect on the cost implications and the cost benefits, which should not be underestimated, not just in cost to the consumer but in carbon saving, which was a major part of the Climate Change Bill and is another strand of government policy. I plan to come back to this issue at a later stage of the Bill. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.