DCC says it’s ‘full steam ahead’ for smart meter rollout despite lockdown

Over the course of lockdown smart meter installations saw a 95 per cent reduction as engineers were banned from entering homes for non-essential visits. While new installations have taken a hit, the Data Communications Company (DCC) has continued to remotely migrate SMETS1 devices onto its network. Chief executive Angus Flett explains to Utility Week how his company has battled the challenges thrown up by the pandemic, and how the green recovery can act as an opportunity to accelerate the rollout.

While Covid-19 initially saw the brakes put on the smart meter rollout for all but essential installations, that did not mean that progress has completely stalled.

In fact, DCC chief executive Angus Flett, says it has been “full steam ahead” for the company’s migration of first-generation SMETS1 smart meters.

The migration is critical to the wider rollout and allows the devices to communicate with a new supplier should a consumer switch. Flett is confident in the technical processes in place to ensure continuity through the crisis, adding that the company very early on tested its systems to make sure they were good to go when the inevitable lockdown was announced.

He begins: “We ran tests, we got used to working from home before the policy was set. For example, we shut down one site on one day and said everyone try and work from home, see if that works because we wanted to test things. By doing that, we could check out how the systems worked, we could check out what worked and didn’t work and we could identify who and what really needs to come into the office. I think by taking that approach it meant we were actually pretty ready when the lockdown occurred.”

While the rollout was paused at the start of lockdown save for emergency meter installations, the DCC has continued its work of migrating SMETS1 devices remotely. So far almost 527,000 SMETS1 meters have been migrated onto the DCC’s network, with more than 70,000 being migrated in a day at the height of lockdown. Flett is all too pleased to report that no element of the organisation’s work has been shelved due to Covid.

“In terms of first-generation meters we are full steam ahead”, he explains.

The DCC has three sites across the UK including an office in London and two operations labs in Manchester and Nottingham. The Manchester lab is a state-of-the art facility with 2,400 smart meter test spaces. Due to the sensitive nature of the work that goes on there, there are biometric security measures in place such as fingerprint and iris scans and these have been a boon to the company during lockdown.

Flett continues: “Because our operational centres are very secure, they have biometric security. So hand swiping is far safer than opening doors, we had a few things in place that really helped us. By testing upfront, we could get a few systems in like being able to register every day and check with employees who is well and not well, being able to test our tracking systems for operational stability, keeping our test labs open so suppliers and our customers can come in and test. It’s the usual story, all of it works because we did quite a bit of planning.”

In addition to biometric security making workspaces safer for the employees who have no choice but to be physically in the office, DCC has allowed customers to continue making use of the labs by carrying out activities on their behalf. For example, employees record videos and talk through the tests live on the phone before sending back the results online.

During lockdown the vast majority of staff are working from home while only a dozen or so have been required to go into the office to maintain the network or run the labs. Cloud working was introduced across the organisation last year, meaning employees were already well-versed in doing their jobs remotely.

DCC employs around 600 staff, 400 of which are permanent with the rest a mix of interims and contractors. They are required to sign in online every day so the company can keep track of sickness rates and Flett says this has not been above normal levels.

Says Flett: “We have kept fully operational, we have kept a full green status, we have kept our programmes fully operational, we have delivered software drops, kept test labs open, we have kept our operational centres open. If anything our staff are probably even more busy throughout this period!”

He adds: “There are definitely some jobs and some roles where you have got to be in the office but there’s a lot that you don’t. What this has proven is that in actual fact we can be very productive working from home. We have seen absolutely no drop off of productivity.

“There’s been some upside, I think people have got to know each other slightly better, because we’re in each others’ homes virtually. I think people are a lot less tired from long commutes, there’s a big upside of less carbon footprint, I think there’s a lot of positives.”

The fall in emissions due to Covid is certainly something Flett sees an opportunity in with regards to smart meters. A recent study in scientific journal Nature Climate Change found global daily emissions decreased by 17 per cent in early April, compared to mean daily levels in 2019.

He adds: “There’s an interesting aspect, are consumers becoming more environmentally aware? Will consumers say they’ll get a smart meter because it helps to decarbonise society? I think we’re anticipating getting back into full volume but clearly my customers have got the logistics of bringing engineers back.”

As with other businesses, a key concern for the energy and utilities sector during lockdown has been the mental wellbeing of staff. Microsoft Teams has been an important tool in ensuring connectivity during the pandemic and Flett is a big proponent of the software. Teams has been integrated into many processes at DCC and has become a hub of so much of its work.

“We have run several surveys and one of the things I think we all forget is not everyone has a house with a garden, not everyone lives with their family so one of the things we have put in place is a wellbeing programme, keeping in touch with people and having socials online. For quite a few staff coming to work is part of their social wellbeing.”

As more restrictions are eased and the picture of what the economic recovery will look like becomes clearer, Flett believes “without a doubt” that the devices will be key to the rebuilding of the green economy.

“This is clean infrastructure so as we come out of lockdown this will really help stimulate the economy. So I think the quicker we can get back to full installation, the quicker we can get everyone to recognise the benefits of this, the better.”