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90% of Smart Meters Being Installed Are Second-Generation

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Suppliers are now primarily installing superior second-generation SMETS2 smart meters, energy consultancy Cornwall Insight has revealed.

As of 26 February, there are more than four million SMETS2 smart meters live, according to the Data Communication Company (DCC), which handles smart meter communications. This time last year, there were just half a million SMETS2 smart meters installed, along with 12 million first-generation meters. 

Second-generation meters are an improvement on first-generation SMETS1 meters, which often lose functionality and disconnect from the network when customers switch energy supplier. In June the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) estimated that 18% of the meters then installed, or 2.7 million meters, had “gone dumb.” 

Suppliers were urged to stop installing SMETS1 meters by Ofgem last March and haven’t been able to include those installations in their official rollout targets since that date. However, last year it was revealed that a third of suppliers —including Big Six giants British Gas and E.On and green challengers Ecotricity and Octopus — were continuing to install the older smart meters. Cornwall Insight estimated that in the second quarter of 2019, just over half smart meters being installed were SMETS2. That figure is now thought to be closer to 90%.

Rowan Hazell, a senior analyst at Cornwall Insight, said: “There were concerns that rollout rates would fall after the completion of the ‘low hanging fruit’ installations. However, the growth in installations suggests that there is still momentum in the smart meter rollout.”

Suppliers are also making progress enrolling older SMETS1 smart meters into the DCC’s system, to prevent them from losing functionality when customers switch. As of mid-February, 68,400 SMETS1 smart meters had been migrated to the DCC’s platform. Another 500,000 installed Honeywell Elster meters can now be enroled, after the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) added new models to its Eligible Products Combination List.

“The number of smart meters on the DCC systems is growing steadily. As a result, the number of customers that should retain smart functionality when switching supplier is also increasing. However, this does rely on the supplier being a DCC User,” Hazell said.

Several suppliers haven’t signed up to use the DCC’s network yet, as required since 25 November 2017. Ofgem recently issued nine suppliers with draft final orders compelling them to become DCC users. 

Suppliers must install smart meters in 85% of homes and businesses by the end of 2024—a deadline that was pushed back from the end of 2020. However, trade body EnergyUK has cautioned that even the extended deadline may be impossible for supplies to meet, with many customers unwilling to accept next-generation meters.

Lauren Smith
Lauren Smith

Lauren Smith has worked as a journalist and copywriter for most of the last decade, covering technology, energy, and consumer rights, in the US and UK.

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