Around 80 SMETS2 devices are operating in homes

Around 80 next generation smart meters have been installed in people’s homes, Claire Perry has revealed.

The energy and climate change minister informed Parliament last week that around 450 SMETS2 meters are now connected to the Data Communications Company (DCC) system.

Of these devices, 80 of these are operating live in people’s homes, she added.

Replying to a written question from the Labour backbencher MP Steve McCabe, Perry informed the House of Commons most of the second generation smart meters installed are still in the pilot phase as suppliers continue to test their systems ahead of a “controlled ramp up” on SMETS2 meters in the coming months.

The SMETS2 meters are inter-operable, unlike the existing SMETS1 devices, meaning customers can switch suppliers.

Perry’s figures mean the total number of SMETS2 devices has nearly doubled since late November when DCC chief executive Angus Flett told the Commons around 250 had been installed, a level which was described as “shocking” by Labour’s energy spokesman Alan Whitehead.

Perry said the smart meter roll-out was on track with 400,000 meters, nearly all of which are the relatively primitive SMETS1 devices, installed every month and a total of 8.6 million operating as of 30 September 2017.

According to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the current level of SMETS2 installations is within its expectations with energy suppliers taking a “controlled, phased approach” to the transition from SMETS1. Following the current phase of low-volume pilots, the programme will move onto medium-volume trials to ensure that suppliers’ systems, processes and devices are operating as expected.

Once tests are complete, energy companies are due to gradually increase the volume of these trials until they are ready to ramp up to a fully-SMETS2 installation programme later this year.

In October, British Gas installed the first SMETS2 meter.

A BEIS spokesperson, said: “The new national smart metering network, run by the Data Communications Company, is an essential part of modernising our infrastructure to a smarter, more efficient energy system in Great Britain.

“2018 is a transition year, where energy suppliers will move from installing first generation to second generation smart meters at scale.”

Junior energy minister Richard Harrington told Parliament last November that all SMETS1 meters would be inter-operable by the end of this year, which will enable customers to switch suppliers if they wish.

Last month the government extended the deadline for the installation of the first generation of smart meters by three months.

The original end date for SMETS1 of 13 July 2018 has now been pushed back to 5 October 2018.