‘Get smart” urges the website of EDF, one of the UK’s largest utilities firms. It tells customers that a free smart meter will help them manage their gas and electricity bills “the hassle-free way” and promises those who book an installation that “we’ll help you get smart about the energy”. The deal is part of a government target to offer every householder a cost-saving smart meter by 2020. The technology provides real-time information about energy consumption, but many of those who accept the invitation are left not smart but smarting.

London pensioner Lara Sykes* has repeatedly tried to book an installation with EDF. “It keeps urging me via online promotions to hurry up and book an appointment, but each time I try I’m told it is not servicing my area yet,” she says. “This has happened more than six times. I was told that it was still training engineers. It is unable to give even an approximate timescale.”

Sykes’s frustration exposes a flaw in the government’s rollout plan, which was launched in 2016: there are not enough technicians trained to install the technology. Last month, a survey by the campaign group Which? found energy firms would have to install 24 meters a minute, 24/7, to approach the 2020 target. So far, 8.6m meters have been fitted; if every household were to switch, more than 50m would be needed within two years.

The shortfall calls into question the government’s judgment in launching such a huge project with unrealistic timescales. The initiative is in response to the European commission’s 2009 electricity directive, which envisaged smart technology being offered to 80% of homes across the EU by 2020. The UK opted for 100% coverage and gave suppliers three years to oblige. Moreover, the UK gave the responsibility for installations to energy suppliers rather than gas and electricity network operators, which run the energy infrastructure and could have installed whole streets at a time instead of home by home.

While the network operators already have a workforce with the necessary skills, energy firms have hitherto focused on marketing and administration. And it seems they are spending freely on pressuring customers to accept the meters while lacking the wherewithal to install them. Sykes says she was told by EDF customer services that messages urging customers to switch were sent to 50,000 people at a time and only 20% of those who responded got an appointment.

In January, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute warned the industry that some suppliers were flouting consumer law by telling customers smart meters were compulsory in a bid to meet targets and avoid fines. Although suppliers are obliged to offer the meters, customers don’t have to accept. London-based Liam Orr says he was told by EDF that he had to accept smart technology when he applied for an electricity meter in his newly converted flat. “EDF told me it only installs smart meters to new connections, but that engineers in my area aren’t trained to fit them until further notice,” he said. “It said to try another company, which I did, but was told that as my current supply via a communal meter is with EDF, it isn’t allowed to remove it.”

Orr was unable to switch supplier since the account was in debt, as a neighbour had not paid their share.

The same staff shortage has forced another EDF customer, Jim Mackenzie of Hitchin, Hertfordshire, to endure three months with an expensive prepayment meter. “We only discovered it was prepayment when the boiler stopped working soon after we moved into the house,” he says. “EDF agreed to replace it and in the interim I had to keep topping it up because the money ran down so quickly. Eventually, EDF admitted my topups were being used to pay off the debt of the previous occupant.

“I can’t switch to another supplier until it has replaced my meter. On the last call it said it had a backlog of 200 installations in my area alone.”

EDF admits demand is outstripping capacity in some areas. “All suppliers have had to recruit a substantial number of installers,” says a spokesperson. “EDF now has a skilled workforce in place, with over 500,000 smart meters installed. But there are areas where customers may have a longer wait.”

Following contact from the Observer, Orr has now received a new meter and Sykes and Mackenzie have been given appointments with technicians from a different area.

The industry body responsible for promoting smart meters, Smart Energy GB, declined to comment on whether there is a shortfall of technicians. So did the charity Electrical Safety First, which sits on the national smart meter secretariat and last year warned the 2020 deadline was an impossibility without an “army of installers”.

In January, the National Audit Office, the spending watchdog, announced an investigation into the scheme, which has cost £11bn so far. It plans to report this autumn.

In the meantime, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) insists the rollout is on track, despite the fact that only 400,000 meters are being installed each month. The figure should be a million if the goal of 50m is to be met within two years, according to Which?. “Energy suppliers are planning to reach all parts of Great Britain in a cost-effective way, increasing their coverage over time,” says a BEIS spokesperson. “Suppliers’ recruitment of installers is on track – the number will grow as suppliers ramp up installations.”

* Not her real name

Not so clever

The logic behind the smart meter revolution is that consumers can monitor their energy use and cut costs, although the government concedes that the average annual saving will be just £11 by 2020 rather than the £26 it originally forecast. Also, the £270 cost of installing each meter will be passed on through higher bills.

Householders tempted to shave what amounts to 1% of the average energy bill should wait until after 5 October, when suppliers are obliged to start installing second-generation smart meters (SMETS2). So far, almost all those who have switched are saddled with first-generation models (SMETS1), which can cease smart functionality if customers change supplier. Technical issues have delayed the launch of SMETS2, but the government has insisted firms continue to offer inferior SMETS1 meters.

According to Which?, one in 10 of the devices are operating in “dumb” mode as analogue meters.