August saw 16% dip in smart meter installations

There was an almost 16 per cent decrease in the number of smart electricity meters installed in August compared to July, ending a five-month run of more than 200,000 installations per month.

The latest figures from Electralink show there were 189,000 installations last month – three per cent more than August 2020 but almost 16 per cent less than July 2021.

It is unclear why there was such a drop off in installations, although one explanation could be the number of people going on holiday following months of travel restrictions being lifted.

Prior to the August lull, from March to July 2021, each month saw more than 200,000 installations as the UK emerged from lockdown restrictions.

Regional distribution of smart meter installs meanwhile remained largely the same.

The East of England recorded 26,000 installs, 21,000 in Southern England and 18,000 in the East Midlands. South Scotland became the ninth region to pass 1 million cumulative installations.

Elsewhere, the Data Communications Company (DCC) has confirmed that more than 15 million smart meters are now connected to its network.

Of these almost 5.9 million are first-generation SMETS1 meters and more than 9 million are SMETS2.

According to the latest figures from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy 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.