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The State of Smart: Consumer experiences of smart meters

Energy

3 February 2026

The State of Smart: Consumer experiences of smart meters 4.36 MB

Smart meters are a key part of modernising Great Britain's energy infrastructure with the potential to benefit both consumers and the grid. 70% of households had one by September 2025. Citizens Advice has been involved in the smart meter rollout since its inception, advocating to keep consumer needs at the heart of the programme. This research is an update to our previous report: Get Smarter. We asked energy consumers many of the same questions to allow us to see how things have changed in the 18 months since that fieldwork took place. Based on the findings of this research, we are calling for the following measures to address consumer issues with smart meters:

  1. Close the accountability gap between energy suppliers and DCC. If doing so requires changes to DCC contracts then these should be made, but in the meantime it should be suppliers who are held accountable when smart metering equipment does not work.

  2. Formalise the current voluntary IHD replacement standards into an enforceable requirement to bring all energy suppliers up to the quality of service that some are already achieving.

  3. Reduce the back-billing window for customers with smart meters to six months. This should incentivise suppliers to get more meters working more quickly and reduce the extent of shock back-bills for consumers with smart meters.

  4. Move to a more consumer-centric measure of how many smart meters are working. A smart meter’s functionality should be judged by its ability to consistently operate a flexible tariff and prevent estimated bills or requests for manual reads. If these criteria are not being met a consumer will reasonably consider their smart meter to not be working, even if it may count as “operating in smart mode” by current metrics.

  5. The Government’s forthcoming new rollout framework should incentivise suppliers to install smart meters for all consumers who want one, and tackle barriers for consumers who are currently less likely to have a meter, including those in the private rented sector. Suppliers should not just install smart meters where it is easiest but instead follow demand, particularly as so many consumers who have requested or agreed to a smart meter do not yet have one.