little earlier my colleague shaun ley spoke to the robert cheesewright the director of policy at smart energy gb the use of smart metres. the smart meter roll—out marks the key transition towards a greener, smarter, cheaper energy future where we can have things like electric vehicles and renewable energy. and the alternative is a dirty, expensive system that makes all of our bills more expensive and more wasteful than they need to be. i‘m sorry to interrupt you, but the argument for a lot of people would be that our bills are expensive because we, as consumers, are paying for the smart meter programme. it‘s not being funded by the industry, it‘s being funded by a levy on people‘s energy bills, and we are not getting value for money. if all we‘re going to save at the end of the day is £11 per year, it‘s nice to have the extra £11 per year, but people would say it‘s being outweighed by the amount that is added to my bill over many years to fund this roll—out. so, that £11 is inclusive to all of the costs and the benefits. so that £11 is £11 in your pocket that you wouldn‘t otherwise have. it‘s im

us now from our central london studio is robert cheesewright, who's the director of policy at smart energy gbs. you all a representative of smart energy gb, the firm are encouraging people to sign up for smart meters. presumably report like this one, from an infrastructure group led by grant shapps, does not make yourjob any easier. this report is about something really important and that's why they've done it. the smart meter roll—out marks a key transition towards a greener, smarter, cheaper energy future where we can have things like electric vehicles and renewable energy. the alternative is a dirty, expensive system where all our bills are far more expensive and wasteful than they need to be. sorry to interrupt you, but the idea for lots of people is that our bills are more expensive because us as consumers are paying for the smart meter programme. it's not being funded by the industry but bya not being funded by the industry but by a levy on people'senergy bills. we are not getting value for money out of this. if all we are going to save at the end of the day is 11 quid, that's nice to h

we spoke to a man from the smart energy gb, the company which promotes these smart meters and he saidy, he says the meter is an obsolete, they just need quickly, he says the meter is an obsolete, theyjust need a change in software. do you accept the argument that actually you don't have to go through the whole process again?“ i'm honest, i'm not convinced. a smart meter, you can'tjust look at the meter and there is the reading in front of you. it's got a number of menus, so you in front of you. it's got a number of menus, so you are in front of you. it's got a number of menus, so you are not giving any guidance as to what reading to send the energy supplier, because as i've said, they don't speak to different energy suppliers. from your point of view, it would have been better if this had been a system where they we re this had been a system where they were using a common meter that every company would install, then you would at least have found switching more realistic. we were told that switching is a smart move. yes, if everyone could read everybody else's meters, it would be exact

little earlier, my colleague shaun ley spoke to the robert cheesewright, the director of policy at smart energy gbe use —— the firm publicising the use of smart meters. a greener, smarter, cheaper... the alternative is a dirty, expensive system that all of our bills for more expensive and more wasteful than they need to be. i'm sorry to interrupt you, but the argument for a lot of people would be that the bills are expensive because we as consumers are paying for the programme, it's not being funded by the industry, it is being funded by a levy on people's energy bills and we are not getting for money. if all we are not getting for money. if all we are not getting for money. if all we are going to save at the end of the day is £11 biglia, it's nice to have £11 per year, but they would say, it is being outweighed by the amount that is added to my bill to fund this roll—up. amount that is added to my bill to fund this roll-up. that is £11 in your pocket that you wouldn't otherwise have. we hear from thousands of smart energy owners across the country and some of them are saving tens, and in some cas