A massive rollout programme, beginning in 2012, will see all the country’s 26 million households fitted with 48 million new meters ? 26 million for electricity and 22 million for gas ? at a total cost of between ?7bn and ?9bn. Several million businesses will also receive the new devices.

The move, which was widely welcomed, means Britain will be the first country to embark on such a comprehensive overhaul of its domestic energy sector, replacing the old meters often hidden away in understairs cupboards, some of them half-a-century old, with a technological system which makes the true cost and rates of consumption of energy instantly apparent.

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