PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Energy: Meters (17 December 2014)

Good progress is being made. Details of some key developments since December 2013 are set out in the Government’s ‘Third Annual Report on the Roll-out of Smart Meters’, published on 11 December 2014:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/third-annual-progress-report-on-the-roll-out-of-smart-meters.

Developments over the last 12 months include:

• the launch of Smart Energy GB in July 2014 and the start of the public-facing campaign to communicate the benefits of smart meters to consumers;
• the completion in November of the notification to the European Commission of key technical documents, including the second iteration of the Smart Metering Equipment Technical Specifications (SMETS2), the Communications Hub Technical Specifications, the Great Britain Companion Specification and the Commercial Product Assurance Security Characteristics. These give industry players a stable platform for building, testing and deploying their equipment and systems;
• the further development of the Smart Energy Code, the legal framework setting out the rights and obligations for the different industry parties that use the smart metering system. During 2014, the Government introduced a number of important parts to the Code, including those areas required for testing;
• the recent completion by the DCC of a consultation on changes to its workplan to build and test its data and communication services, for decision in the new year.
• the continued installation of SMETS1 smart meters in homes and businesses (see below).

Extensive preparations are being made by energy suppliers and other industry players, including in the areas of meter procurement, finance, back office systems and process readiness, and staff recruitment and training. We will continue to work with those organisations that have made less progress to ensure they are ready to deliver the benefits of smart meters to their customers.

A number of energy suppliers are continuing to install smart and advanced meters in people’s homes and businesses, allowing their consumers to receive benefits now. Information on the number of smart meters installed by seven of the larger energy suppliers in quarter three 2014 is set out in the Government’s ‘Smart Meters, Great Britain, Quarterly report to end September 2014’, published on 18 December 2014:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistical-release-and-data-smart-meters-great-britain-quarter-3-2014.

The report shows that there are now 543,900 smart meters in domestic properties and 515,300 smart and advanced meters in smaller non-domestic sites now operating across Great Britain.