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Around half of Britain will use smart pay-as-you-go (PAYG) services to buy their energy when smart meters are installed across the country, independent research by Populus has revealed.
The “Attitudes Around Buying Gas and Electricity with Smart Pay-As-You-Go” study conducted for Smart Energy GB shows that even at the beginning of the six year national rollout of smart meters, almost half (48 per cent) of people would like to use a smart meter in PAYG mode.
At present only 16 per cent of households use the existing prepayment system to pay for their gas and electricity, but consumers in the North of England and in Scotland are the most keen to embrace the technology in PAYG form.
More than half of respondents in the North East of England (57 per cent), Yorkshire/Humberside (51 per cent) said they were “very interested” or “fairly interested” in using a smart meter operating in pay-as-you-go mode, as were half of households surveyed in Scotland and the North West of England.
The appetite for smart PAYG is also strong among people currently using prepayment meters, with 76 per cent interested in using the service, the report added.
Every household in the country will be offered a smart meter between now and 2020.
Smart Energy GB chief executive Sacha Deshmukh said, “This research shows that there is a national appetite for a far more convenient way to pay for energy.
“It is clear that people want greater control and visibility over how they buy and use energy – and smart pay-as-you-go, made possible by the national roll-out of smart meters, is a big step towards this.”
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