Smart meter fury as energy bill devices go ‘dumb’ and Ofgem begged to end crisis | Personal Finance | Finance [Video]

Unpaid carer discusses the benefits of using a smart meter

 Watchdogs have been told to get tough on energy firms that are failing to tackle the crisis of smart meters that have become ‘dumb’.

It emerged last week that as many as 4 million of the meters are failing to work as designed.

In theory, the smart meters supply real time information on energy use and cost to householders and suppliers.

However, a significant number of the first generation of the meters – known as SMETS 1 – are failing to work as intended.

The main problem is that they fail to connect to the 3G mobile phone network, which means they cannot send usage information to suppliers.

4 million of the meters are failing to work as designed. (Image: Getty)

At the same time, some customers with a SMETS 1 meter find they no longer work when they switch to a new supplier.

The net effect is that …