That certainly was not the case with analogue meters which seemed to last 'for ever'.
Indeed. I'm sure we have all known of countless electro-mechanical ones that had clearly been in service for many decades. Ironically, since they had 'moving parts', one might expect a need for more frequent 'replacement' (not the least for 'checking' and calibration) than with electronic ones.
You can't have it both ways; are you saying the government should not have added the (originally) £11 billion pounds surcharge to the bills?
Well, I certainly don't think the bills should have increased by more than the marginal additional cost of replacing with 'smart' meters rather than 'dub ones'. I don't really know details of all this - did the government actutally 'impose a surcharcarge';, or did they mnerely 'give their blessing' to suppliers adjusting billing to cover whatever additional costs there were?
You are far too understanding. Are you perhaps used to such things in your work life?
As I said, it's literally true. Everyone is have to cope (or struggle) with energy prices that have greatly increeased through no fault of the government.
IF 'smart' meters result in a reduced energy consumption, then people with such meters will be (financially) 'better off' to a greater extent now than they would have been when energy prices were much lowr.
How is the Covid inquiry going? Have they found any competence yet?
Totally off-topic but I am very sceptical about the value of this enquiry, in the way it is seemingly being conducted, particularly the apparent focus on the actions and behaviour of individuals.
What is needed is (in my opinion) a sensible discussion about 'pandemic planning' (establishing contingency plans for 'once in a century' events), and the management of such pandemics, in the light of the lessons learned in recent years. As things stand, we still have two camps of 'experts', one saying that (in terms of restrictions, lockdowns etc.) the PM "did too little too late" and that other saying that he "did too much". I very much doubt that the "witch hunt" we are seeing will achieve that.
Kind Regards, John