Energy Secretary Chris Huhne has defended the Government’s controversial plans to implement an £11.7 billion roll-out of ‘smart meters’. The devices send information regarding energy consumption back to suppliers, supposedly giving a better understanding of usage.

The plans have come under fire as critics are concerned Government is writing a ‘blank cheque’ to the power companies, who will fund the technologies.

Mr Huhne told ELN he had faith in the system: “The overall benefits of smart meters are actually to reduce costs and the overall estimate is that they will reduce energy bills by about £22 a year partly because of savings made by the householder and partly because there are savings by the energy companies so, in our view, they have very substantial benefits.”