E.On’s Con Trick To Persuade Customers To Get Smart Meters

By Paul Homewood

The latest con trick to get us all on to smart meters:

One of the UK’s biggest energy firms will for the first time offer cheaper deals to customers if they agree to have a smart meter installed.

The move by E.on, which has nearly 5 million customers, the vast majority of which do not yet have a smart meter, is being described as a "ploy" to get more people to accept the new-style meters.

From next year E.On customers with smart meters will no longer pay its so-called "standard variable tariff", which is the default option they are moved onto when they have finished a fixed deal.

SVTs are notoriously poor value with the Government preparing to impose a cap to stop consumers’s bills spiraling out of control.

E.On will replace its SVT with a one-year fixed deal which it promises will be a cheaper option. A spokesman refused to reveal how competitive the rate would be.

The controversial move will draw criticism both from customers – many of whom doubt the new technology – and consumer groups, who argue that lower tariffs should be unconditional.

It comes as the Government’s smart meter roll-out is in chaos as a number of Big Six energy firms have admitted that more than half of households are not accepting them.

Only 750,000 of E.On’s 4.6 million customers currently have one, a rate of just 16pc, however the rate could rise if consumers find they can slash their bills by getting a smart meter.

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E.On are still working on the detail, but drawbacks are plain to see.

Although customers will not automatically be transferred to expensive standard tariffs, they will instead be put on to one-year fixed deals.

Even though the latter may be cheaper, it is not clear that customers will actually benefit. As the deal is fixed, they will be stuck for a year on a deal that may still be a lot more expensive than alternative offers.

There is one further issue. If customers are so keen to monitor their electricity usage with smart meters, are they really then dopey enough to stay on standard tariffs when their deals are up?

This desperate behaviour from E.On is an indication of how poor the uptake of smart meters has been so far.