Retreat from power monitoring plan
Updated on 29 April 2008
Under pressure from electricity companies, the government retreats from a plan that would have seen every home fitted with an electricity monitoring device.
The former environment secretary David Miliband said visual display units could save people money by telling how much power they were using without passing on that information to the electricity companies.
The pledge was clear enough, free monitors in every home to curb people's electricity use.
Instead, the companies want to install smart meters in every home, informing them about the power people are using and helping them to make more money.
