Government approves SMETS1 services for Secure meters

The UK Government has confirmed that the Data Communications Company (DCC) will provide a SMETS1 service to the Secure meter set.

Devices manufactured by Secure accounted for the majority of remaining first-generation meters that had yet to have enrolment onto the DCC’s communications network agreed.

Enrolment of SMETS1 meters with the DCC will ensure their interoperability so that smart functionality is retained when a customer switches energy supplier.

The announcement has been made following an industry consultation during which the DCC, its service providers and suppliers, provided “sufficient evidence”, including security assurances and a benefit and cost assessment.

In October 2018, the government confirmed it would implement its April 2018 consultation proposal that would require DCC to provide SMETS1 services to four out of six SMETS1 meter sets – representing around two thirds of the SMETS1 meter population – in order to ensure interoperability for consumers.

The four meter groups consisted of Aclara, Honeywell Elster, Landis+Gyr and Itron.

Secure meters, which the government says can now be offered the same adoption and enrolment services by the DCC, represent more than 99 per cent of the remaining third of the SMETS1 meter population.

Less than 1 percent of the remaining SMETS1 devices to have their enrolment agreed fall under the EDMI meter set. The Government says it intends to consult on the EDMI meter set “as soon as it has sufficient cost, technical and security information to inform its decision”.

Earlier this year the DCC confirmed that the migration of a first cohort of SMETS1 meters (approximately one third of the total installed) onto its secure data network would be possible from the end of May 2019.

Now, with the Government’s acceptance of the DCC’s benefit and cost assessment, a further 4m of the meters can be migrated from the end of September 2019 as the second of three migratory cohorts.

Each cohort will be assigned a year-long window for migration onto the network and will be entirely conducted over the air.

SMS Plc has been supporting DCC with the adoption and enrolment process, providing System Integration Testing and User Testing Services at two lab facilities in Cardiff.