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UTILITY WEEK | 7TH - 13TH AUGUST 2015 | 19 Operations & Assets There is likely to be a race to operate a wide, but high quality network of independ- ent heating engineers and to do it well. In the US, internet giants Amazon and Google have entered home delivery with a smart phone app that allows a callout within the hour of anything from a nanny to a plumber or handyman, all with Amazon-style con- sumer ratings of the service provided. Bizzby is among companies offering this in the UK. Some smart thermostat vendors like Nest, Tado, Passiv and Netatmo pro- vide recommended installers with a degree of quality assurance and in time could seek to extend their brand to become trusted aggregators of quality heating engineers. Thermondo already aggregates installers in Germany and plans European expansion. In addition to aggregating good engineers, one mechanism for improving average job quality is to reduce the decision making le to the engineer. Thermondo's online quot- ing system achieves this by centralising the expertise, while vendors' installer apps can prompt for the right process to be followed. Another means of controlling quality is to collect data post-installation such as when the boiler was installed (connected boilers can report when they come online), whether the boiler is struggling to reach set point or is switching on and off too frequently, and whether or when the user has used the con- trols. Suppliers can monitor this either with standalone hardware (such as from Quby) or using algorithms built into a smart thermo- stat (such as from Netatmo or Tado). A third mechanism is to introduce Ama- zon-style consumer ratings of the installa- tion and strike-off installers that do not get a rating of at least four stars. The data and customer engagement inter- faces on connected heating systems can be used to upsell services including boiler cover policies and photovoltaics – or potentially energy, which is a threat to utilities if new entrants start offering combined heat and energy services in high volume (I will look more closely at this in the next article). British Gas is not standing still with its £270 million profit from heat services. It recently announced sales of 3,000 Hive ther- mostats a week, and smart boiler diagnostics to be launched later this year. Other utilities should use best practice benchmarking and an externally facilitated innovations process to analyse the opportunity to catch up by using connectivity to transform the tradi- tional heating sales, installation and mainte- nance processes. Susan Furnell is a freelance consultant specialising in connected home technology Exclusive: smart meter insight Utility Week Intelligence recently published the first in a series of regular smart metering trend reports. T he UK energy industry has five years to install more than 30 million domes- tic smart meters, in one of the biggest government-mandated infrastructure pro- grammes in a generation. The country has signed up to a Euro- pean target to have smart meters in 80 per cent of homes and businesses by 2020. The mass rollout has been delayed several times, and is now due to officially begin in 2016. This quarterly trend report from Utility Week Intelligence provides a snapshot of how many smart meters are currently in operation in the UK – and how far the industry has to go. It also highlights the main discussion points and news events of the previous quarter, with regard to the rollout. DOMESTIC SMART METERS INSTALLED BY THE LARGER ENERGY SUPPLIERS SOURCE: DECC 140,000 120,000 100,000 80,000 60,000 40,000 20,000 0 250,000 200,000 150,000 100,000 50,000 0 n Domestic smart meters (electricity) n Domestic smart meters (gas) • • • • • • • • • Domestic smart meters (all) Historic installations estimated (1) Q3 2012 Q4 2012 Q1 2013 Q2 2013 Q3 2013 Q4 2013 (2) Q1 2014 Q2 2014 Q3 2014 Q4 2014 Q1 2015 (3) (1) Includes historic installations prior to Q3 2012 for the larger seven suppliers; includes installations prior to Q1 2015 for First Utility and OVO. (2) Utility Warehouse data included from quarter four 2013. (3) First Utility and OVO data included from quarter one 2015. SMART METERS INSTALLED PER MONTH SOURCE: ELECTRALINK 35,000 30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 0 n Non-SMET smart • • • • • • • • • SMETS1 01/13 02/13 03/13 04/13 05/13 06/13 07/13 08/13 09/13 10/13 11/13 12/13 01/14 02/14 03/14 04/14 05/14 06/14 07/14 08/14 09/14 10/14 11/14 12/14 01/15 02/15 03/15 Eventual target is 53m by 2020 The insights in this quarterly trend report are supported by data provided by Electra link, which has used its visibility of all the electricity meter installations across the country to identify the location and type of the meters being installed and how the rate of installation varies over time. Electralink's insight is derived from its visibility of industry processes communicated across the data transfer service it runs on behalf of the industry. Electralink's analysis is already supporting those involved in the smart meter programme, for instance through its property level predictions in its smart meter installation dataset), being trialled by suppliers and meter operators with a view to its use to support their rollout. Electralink's Energy Market Insight is supplied commercially to the industry under strict rules that ensure the maintenance of personal and commercial confidentiality. As the rollout progresses, and more consumers are using smart meters, it will enable more detailed analysis of the progress of the rollout and the impact on such consumer activity as change of supply. For further information on Electralink's Energy Market Insight, contact: Gavin.Jones@ electralink.co.uk The Smart Meter Quarterly Trend Report is available in full, right now, from the Utility Week Intelligence platform. 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