Almost 18% of smart meters in ‘dumb’ mode

Almost 4.6 million smart and advanced meters in Great Britain, representing just under 18 per cent of those installed, do not have smart functionality.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has today (26 August) published the latest quarterly statistics showing the number of installations made by the 14 largest energy suppliers.

BEIS revealed there were 25.2 million smart and advanced meters in homes and small businesses across Great Britain as of 30 June, up by 1 million from the end of Q1.

Of these 20.7 million were smart meters operating in smart mode and advanced meters, meaning more than 4.5 million were in what the government refers to as “traditional” mode. This represents more than 17.5 per cent of smart meters and eight per cent of all meters in Britain.

In total 46 per cent of all meters in Britain were smart or advanced meters at the end of Q2, an increase of two percentage points from the last quarter.

In Q2 2021 large suppliers installed 979,800 smart meters in domestic properties which is 236,800 more than Q1. Meanwhile suppliers installed 28,900 smart/ advanced meters in small business premises which is 3,800 more than in the previous quarter.

Earlier this month the Data Communications Company (DCC), the organisation responsible for migrating first-generation (SMETS1) devices onto the national network, reported that 14 million smart meters had been connected to its system.

DCC said its network passed the milestone of 5 million SMETS1 meters connected to its network in early August. In total there are 8.8 million SMETS2 and almost 5.4 million SMETS1 meters on the network.

Responding to the latest figures Robert Cheesewright, director of communications at Smart Energy GB, said: “Every single person who takes the decision to upgrade to a smart meter is playing their part helping the country transition to a truly smart energy system that benefits the consumer while making more efficient and greater use of cleaner, renewable energy like wind and solar.

“Without this action it will be impossible to decarbonise our energy system and make progress towards our net zero targets.

“14 million smart meters are connected to the secure national communications network and as a nation we are moving in the right direction, empowering consumers to play their own part in managing their energy, eliminating waste and reducing their carbon footprint.”