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One of the consortia bidding for the smart meter communications provider role has started a smart meter trial in Ipswich with some 1,000 Scottish Power customers. The aim is to find out what percentage of smart meters can be reliably connected first time.
Speaking for Smart Reach, smart metering director at Arqiva David Green said the trial would be the first to test systems end to end.
Green claimed competing smart comms solutions would cost more because they needed “multiple technologies to reach all homes”. He said a first time connection was “crucial” to the success of the UK smarter meter programme, because the chances of getting “back into people’s homes are slim”.
The consortium is pushing long range radio as a better solution for smart meters than other forms of comms, such as GPRS. The group claims the technology will connect a higher pecentage of homes and does not suffer the same interference and penetration issues as that used for mobile phone networks.
Green has previously claimed that even if five per cent of UK smart meters cannot be connected first time it will cost the big six suppliers some £745 million.
Smart Reach is also involved in smart meter trials with Thames Water. Green said the water sector should not be ignored in smart meter plans. “It would be foolish for the UK to do one system for smart metering, one for smart grids and another for water,” he said.
BT, BAE Systems Detica and Sensus are the other three companies in the Smart Reach consortium. Siemens is also involved in the Ipswich trial.
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