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British Gas strikes smart meter switching deal

British Gas has struck a deal which will allow customers who have a smart meter fitted to retain their smart functionality when they move away from the supplier.

Landis and Gyr SMETS 1 type meters installed by British Gas have now been included in Trilliant and CGI’s smart change of supplier service. This means customers with these types of meters will not have to have them switched to dumb mode on moving away from the supplier, and it is hoped this will boost switching levels among smart meter customers.

Last month British Gas announced it has installed 1.5 million SMETS1 type smart meters in customers’ homes so far.

In combining CGI’s service with Trilliant’s smart energy access layer, a process has been built which allows the transfer of meters from one system to another, thereby allowing the new supplier to remotely read the meter in smart mode.

Five of the big six energy retailers in the UK use either CGI or Trilliant solutions for their smart meter rollouts.

British Gas’s director for smart infrastructure Edward Hurford said: “Smart Meters provide our customers with extensive benefits and deliver high customer satisfaction. Together with our partners Trilliant and CGI, we can now make it easier for customers to retain smart benefits – even after a change of supplier. That’s great for competition and for customers.”

Trilliant’s EMEA managing director Jess Thompson-Hughes said: “This service reduces costs for energy suppliers, as they do not have to install new smart meters when perfectly serviceable meters are already installed – in fact they can now actively entice existing smart meter customers into their customer base.”