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Energy Bill

My Lords, I welcome the amendments moved by the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, and the noble Baroness, Lady Wilcox. This is an area in which we can enable individual households to manage their energy costs to a much greater degree, solve a lot of the other issues that come with prepayment meters, and address other technologies that create difficulties for many. Smart meters would allow people to control carbon emissions as well. That is why we all welcome the Government’s intention to move forward with this. Now is the time to say, ““Let’s get on with it. Nail the flag to the mast. Put the provision in the Bill because it is clearly the right thing to do””. I do not know whether the Minister or his predecessor had a chance to look at page 286 of the 2007 energy White Paper, which I suggested they read after the Committee. It states clearly on the graph showing the marginal abatement cost curve that real-time displays in households—I presume that that is gobbledegook for smart meters—demonstrate one of the biggest positive returns in terms of expenditure and investment versus carbon emissions saved. That comes from the Government’s own statistics in their White Paper. We have to get on with this, so my amendment provides that the provision should be rolled out over the modest period of 10 years. The Government are saying that, whether it is greenhouse gas emissions or anything else, we need to get on. Ten years is a modest timescale. I understand that some 47 million meters need to be changed, but the industry is confident that it can meet the timetable, so it is important that we specify the timescale within which we will do this and, as a result, reap the benefits as quickly as possible. It will also make a major contribution to the fight by individuals and households to combat fuel poverty and control fuel budgets, which, I am sure, will be important not just for the coming year but for many years to come.