We fully support competition in metering and strongly believe we have never acted anti-competitively in the development of our contracts.
We believe the contracts, which were developed over a two year period with gas suppliers and in consultation with Ofgem have:
- Delivered immediate and substantial financial benefits to customers in the form of lower metering prices, saving customers over £120 million over their five years of operation.
- Not inhibited the development of competition, such that the market share of National Grid’s metering business is now around 40% of the new and replacement meter market, from a starting point of over 90% in 2002.
- Provided scope for large numbers (about 1.2 million per annum) of existing meters to be replaced annually in an orderly and sustainable way, whilst limiting consumer disruption, and wasteful replacement of good working meters.