I was amused to read recently the thoughts of Allan Asher, Chief Executive of the UK’s consumer energy body energywatch (is it just me who gets irritated with organizations that appear to have been founded by e. e. cummings?). He reckons that more people would buy micro-generators and export some of their excess energy back into the grid if our energy meters were better.

Hmm. This sounds about the best science-related economic non-sequitor since Richard Dawkins’ infamous claim that people who say they have psi abilities must be fake because if they were real they would have volunteered to be lab rats, rather than making money out of it.

Some don’t install home micro-generation (for example solar panels and turbines) because it’s not practical in/on their homes – but the biggest reason is that it costs too much money with a long, long wait before there’s any return on investment.

If the government really want micro-generation, I’d like to suggest an alternative approach. Reduce the number of planned new power stations by one, and use the millions saved to install free micro-generation for anyone who wants it and can accommodate it.

What’s the catch? The homeowner doesn’t get the savings (okay, we can allow them 5 or 10 percent as an incentive) until the investment in equipment is paid off. But with that small incentive, plus a future significant saving when the capital has been paid, it would be attractive to householders too. How about it, government energy folk?