The switchover to digital television could cost Britain in access of £6 billion, with set-top box receivers leading to a rise in household electricity bills, industry analysts warn.

Financial analyst firm Enders Analysis predicts that £3.5bn of this public cost will result from greater use of electricity by set-top boxes in the next twenty years.

Some £865m will also be needed to upgrade or install new aerials if households are to receive digital reception, with at least one per cent of UK homes not being able to watch digital TV unless satellite receivers become available.

Another £2.1 billion could be required to fund regulator Ofcom's proposed public service publisher which would provide new digital content for UK citizens, said analyst Chris Goodall, speaking at the Oxford Media Convention, yesterday.

An additional £250 to £400 million could be required to help the old and vulnerable access digital TV, assuming that voluntary services will provide services free of charge.

But Goodall said the planned 2012 switchover to digital would recoup some funds and improve services when the government sells of the current radio spectrum used by analogue TV.

'Analogue broadcasting is extremely broadcast inefficient and if we freed it up then telephony on mobile phones would be much better than it is now,' said Goodall.

But Ian Moss, head of communication policy at the Treasury told Computing that the financial benefit from a spectrum sell-off will be 'pretty low'.

'It's more about the economic value that can gained from new services launching when the spectrum is made available,' he said.

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