Smart meter installations rebound from pandemic drop

Installations of smart electricity meters were up 21% in 2021 compared to the previous year, Electralink’s latest figures have revealed.

Due to Covid, 2020 saw a 27% decrease in installations on 2019 and the lowest tally since 2016.

According to Electralink, last year’s figures show the installation programme is exhibiting signs of partial recovery from the impact of the pandemic.

Installations in 2021 reached more than 2.4 million, compared to just shy of 2 million in 2020. Yet the figure is still down significantly on the roughly 2.7 million installations recorded in 2019.

Pandemic lockdowns have severely hindered the smart meter rollouts, with engineers initially only able to install meters on an emergency basis.

Despite a lengthy lockdown in early 2021, installation rates bounced back in the summer months and prior to August Electralink’s figures showed a five-month run of more than 200,000 installations per month.

Despite the year-on-year increase, the figures for December were 32% less than the previous month and 10% less than December 2020.

The regions with the highest number of installations in 2021 included:

• East England – 21,000 smart meter installations in December and 2.06 million since the rollout began in 2012
• Southern England – 17,000 installations in December and 1.73 million since the rollout began
• East Midlands – 16,000 meter installations in December and 1.75 million since the rollout started
• West Midlands – 14,000 smart installations in December and 1.54 million since the rollout began
• And North West England – 12,000 installations last month and 1.47 million since the rollout commenced

Cumulative smart electricity meter installations since 2012 for England, Wales and Scotland currently stand at 17.2 million.