Smart meters, for many owners, have failed to live up to the name. Online forums are filled with complaints from people who have received huge bills or ridiculous consumption figures after energy suppliers installed the internet-connected meters in their homes.

The consumer champion has written to the UK Government calling for all faulty smart meters to be repaired. Ahead of gas and electricity bills rising by 10 per cent at the start of October, Martin Lewis has written to Energy Secretary Ed Miliband urging the UK Government to rethink the “dire” smart meter rollout to shift targets from installations to repairing faulty meters.

Martin Lewis has urged Ed Miliband to overhaul the “perverse” smart meter rollout as an estimated four million broken devices sit in British homes. Plans to introduce smart meters were first unveiled by the Energy Secretary when he previously held the role in 2008 and targets to install them were ramped up by the successive Tory government.