Second-generation smart meters reach two million UK installs

Two million second generation smart meters (SMETS2) have now been installed in homes across Britain.

According to the Data Communications Company (DCC), the two millionth SMETS2 meter was installed on Saturday 7th September 2019 in Surrey by British Gas.

Smart meters are a vital upgrade to our national energy infrastructure, not only putting consumers in control of their energy use by giving them real-time information on their gas and electricity consumption, but also providing the building blocks for a more flexible, cleaner and more modern energy system.

SMETS2 meters are fully interoperable and continue to function as smart meters even if consumers switch energy suppliers, which was not the case for consumers who had the first-generation smart meters installed.

However, the DCC is currently implementing an ‘over the air’ adoption and enrolment plan for SMETS1 meters, enabling them to connect automatically to the DCC’s network and regain their smart functionality.

Besides installations, the DCC says that volumes of data carried over the DCC’s network is also rising – 56 million messages were conveyed over the network in July alone – more than 50% higher than in April.

The news follows the latest statistical release by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) in early September, which revealed there are now 14.9 million smart and advanced meter operating in homes and businesses across Great Britain overall.

The latest tally means that more than a quarter of all domestic energy meters have now been switched to smart as part of the Smart Meter Implementation Programme, with 16 months remaining of the government’s original end-of-2020 rollout deadline.

CEO of the DCC, Angus Flett, commented: “With 23 smart meters being installed every minute of the day, our network has grown quickly. We connected the millionth smart meter in May and already that number’s doubled. Several areas in the country are really leading the charge and embracing smart meter technology, which is digitising our energy grid.

“Areas like Twekesbury and Bolsover are playing their part in reaching our national net zero carbon target and their contribution could help local renewable and energy storage projects make a bigger impact.”