Carol Ann Duffy to mark phasing out of gas meters with new poem

Poet laureate concedes that the work, marking the replacement of traditional utility meters with ‘smart meters’, is one of her more unusual projects

Poetic inspiration can come from anywhere, be it windswept landscapes, dysfunctional parents – and even, it seems, gas meters.

Carol Ann Duffy has revealed that her next work as the nation’s poet laureate will mark the passing of traditional “whirring” gas and electricity meters that have sat in British homes for more than 100 years.