Alan Whitehead MP The end date is looming, and it just doesn’t look like we’re going to be able to get everything done in time. The public is divided: some are for, some against, but most people just want us to ‘get on with it’. There’s something almost heroic about the way the government just keeps ignoring reasonable business voices and plodding on with the deal, even though it is very flawed and has taken far too long to negotiate. Now, as the deadline looms, some very august bodies are saying the government can’t get the deal through, but whether or not there is a credible plan B remains a matter of conjecture. Of course you know what I’m talking about: yes, it’s…smart meters. The National Audit Office is the august body that has just come out with a report telling us that the projected date by which the smart meter programme should be complete – the end of 2020 – is pretty much unattainable. Only 12.5 million meters have been installed to date, with 39 million still to go, yet worse, most of those 12.5 million are the old model of meter that was never supposed to have been installed on a widespread basis. Only about 100,000 of the newer interoperational model have been installed to date. This is because the digital infrastructure body set up by the government was about three years late in getting its communications going, and is still having problems in Scotland and the North of England.
Business Green 27th Nov 2018 read more »