Karen Darby, chief executive of the website http://www.Simplyswitch.com, said: "We are a Big Brother nation, with CCTV cameras on every street corner. These meters could be seen as another step, but I hope people also see the benefit."

Driving the White Paper is the energy gap facing Britain due to falling North Sea oil and gas supplies and the scheduled closure of virtually all the old nuclear plants which provide 18 per cent of the UK's electricity.

This would make Britain dependent on imports from unstable areas including Russia and the Middle East.

Launching a five-month consultation on the issue, Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling said the Government believed that it was in the public interest to give private energy firms the option of investing in new nuclear building projects.

He said: "I firmly believe the mix we have will serve us well in the future. Nuclear does need to be part of that - to exclude it as an option makes no sense at all." He said it was likely that any new nuclear power stations would be built on existing nuclear sites.

But Green Alliance director Stephen Hale said: "This is groundhog day. Another Commons statement. Another White Paper. Another barrage of consultation. But none of the big decisions which are needed to get Britain on course for a low-carbon economy."

Greenpeace, which forced the White Paper by challenging the Government's "seriously flawed" consultation last year, said the earliest a new plant could be built was 2017 - after the energy deficit had opened up.

Greenpeace director John Sauven said: "Reaching for nuclear power to fight climate change is like an obese person taking up smoking to lose weight. It's a dangerous and expensive distraction in the fight against global warming."

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