We calculate the charge sensitivity of a recently demonstrated device where the Josephson inductance of a single Cooper-pair transistor is measured. We find that the intrinsic limit to detector performance is set by oscillator quantum noise. Sensitivity better than $10^{-6}$e$/sqrt{mathrm{Hz}}$ is possible with a high $Q$-value $sim 10^3$, or using a SQUID amplifier. The model is compared to experiment, where charge sensitivity $3 times 10^{-5}$e$/sqrt{mathrm{Hz}}$ and bandwidth 100 MHz are achieved.