The government has outlined plans for every home to have smart meters for gas and electricity, in what is being called the biggest shake up in the energy industry for decades.

The new technology will allow companies to read meters remotely and should mean an end to wrongly estimated bills.

The government claims it could save consumers up to £100 million a year.

The Government wants Britain to take a lead in smart meters with the industry rolling out this sort of technology to every home in Britain by the end of 2020. Now that will involve the installation of something like 48 million gas and electricity meters into around 25 million homes. There will be an enormous cost too - perhaps up to £10 billion. Some of that will end up on our bills. But the Government claims consumers will save up to £100 million a year as we curb our energy use and that will also help the environment.