British Gas’ boss has been slammed over his call for “mandatory” smart meters in homes across the UK as energy customers are reportedly getting “overcharged”.

Chris O’Shea, the group chief executive officer of the energy supplier’s owner Centrica since 2020, made the comments while appearing in front of the Energy and Net Zero Committee.

The chief executive cited that only 56 per cent of Centric customers currently have smart meters installed.

This is despite the fact the energy bill-saving technology has been made available to consumers since 2011.

O’Shea explained: “We think that in order to have the proper smart grid required to keep costs low in the future, everybody should have a smart meter.

“One of the things we should consider is whether this is a voluntary programme or whether this is a mandatory programme.”

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However, the British Gas executive has received sharp criticism from experts over his proposal.

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, Nous’ founder Greg Marsh claimed the energy supplier’s customers were being “overcharged” when running into issues with their smart meter.

The finance website's CEO said: “Hey British Gas, maybe more people would want a smart meter if suppliers like you actually fixed them when they were broken?

“Instead customers are being overcharged then fobbed off with ridiculous excuses.”

Two months ago, Government figures revealed that nearly four million smart meters in the UK were not working properly.

This has raised concerns many households are being inadvertently overcharged for their energy bills.

Current estimates suggest around 32 million in the UK have working smart meters, which is the equivalent of about 60 per cent of all domestic meters.

Smart meters have been cited as being useful for those hoping to save money on energy bills as readings are automatically sent to suppliers.

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This means a household’s energy bill will accurately reflect the amount of gas and electricity that has been used.

The British Gas boss added: “We found that 44 per cent of our customers don’t have them, of whom 600,000, or about eight per cent, have said they don’t want one.

“So for 36 per cent of customers we are not sure whether they will take one or not.”

“If you mandated it, then we could have that programme completed within the next five years.”