7 January 2019 Metering, Smart Meter Rollout

DCC reaches target of 250,000 SMETS2 smart meter installations

smart meter on bedside

A quarter of a million second generation (SMETS2) smart meters are operating successfully on the Data Communications Company (DCC) network, the DCC has announced.

The company – which is responsible for managing the data and communications network of Britain’s smart meters – said the milestone was reached when a SMETS2 device was installed in Sutton, south London, by big six supplier EDF Energy on Friday (4 January).

Angus Flett, chief executive of the DCC, said: “This is a terrific start to the new year and a proud moment for the DCC as we prove our network’s ability to operate at scale.

“The rate of installation will continue to accelerate throughout 2019 while we also start to enrol first generation (SMETS1) meters onto our network, extending the benefits of smart metering and interoperability across the country.”

The DCC says “significant progress” has been made on the SMETS2 rollout in recent months, with more than 4,000 installations each day, the equivalent of about seven per minute.

This is a notable increase from just 1,000 installed nationwide in June 2018, and the company expects the pace of installation to increase over the course of 2019.

Last week, energy minister Claire Perry previously told parliament that 220,000 of the devices had been installed by 18 December last year, in response to a question posed by Labour’s shadow energy minister, Alan Whitehead.

“We expect the number of SMETS2 meters to continue to ramp up as energy suppliers continue their transitions from SMETS1 to SMETS2 meters,” she said.

The energy supplier ‘end-date’ for SMETS1 meters passed on 5 December 2018, meaning any new installations of SMETS1 meters will no longer count towards smart meter rollout obligations. A separate end date for pre-payment meter installations has been set at 15 March 2019, while some individual derogations have been agreed, allowing certain energy suppliers to continue to install SMETS1 credit meters to this date as well.

Lat month, the DCC demonstrated that SMETS1 smart meters will also work on its central, secure data network, enabling all first-generation meters that have temporarily lost smart functionality on switching supplier to have full capabilities restored by the end of 2020.