Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 1ST - 7TH DECEMBER 2017 | 27 Customers Smart meter progress The government and Ofgem have a target to roll out 53 million gas and electricity meters to all homes and small businesses in Great Britain by the end of 2020. In its latest quarterly update, published in August, the government said there are now over 7.68 million smart and advanced meters in homes and businesses in Great Britain, installed by both large and small energy suppliers. Scottish Power said it has installed approximately 635,000 first generation smart meters to date, and anticipates SMETS2 installation beginning in summer 2018. SSE has installed more than 600,000 smart meters so far, and expects to begin installing SMETS2 meters "in the coming months". EDF Energy has installed more than 400,000 smart meters and is "well underway" with testing the new SMETS2 meters. It will conduct pilot installa- tions by the end of the year, with mass rollout expected in 2018. Independent suppliers are at varying stages in their smart meter rollouts. Utilita head of marketing and communications Jem Maidment said: "Utilita has more than 900,000 SMETS1 meters in its portfolio, and more than 88 per cent of our 580,000 domestic customers have a smart meter – the highest percentage of any supplier in the country. We have no set date for rolling out SMETS2 meters." Ecotricity has installed more than 10,000 SMETS1 meters so far, and plans to start its roll out of SMETS2 meters in the second quarter of 2017. First Utility declined to reveal the number of smart meters it has so far installed, but said it aims to begin installing SMETS2 meters in 2018. Meanwhile, Robin Hood Energy has installed approximately 11,000 smart meters to date and will start rolling out SMETS2 meters in May 2018. And Ovo Energy says it has installed 660,000 individual meters in customers' homes since 2013. It will begin to trial SMETS2 meters in homes over the coming weeks. A spokesperson for Bristol Energy said: "In Bristol Energy's first year of busi- ness, we fitted a small number of SMETS1 smart meters to existing customers, as part of an initial trial. We are now focusing on rolling out SMETS2 meters to all customers from April 2018 onwards. "This will be done in stages. We will start with the most vulnerable custom- ers, those on prepayment meters, and people who would most benefit from a smart meter." Npower Npower is holding back on its install figures until it publishes its full year financial results for 2017 next year, but a spokesperson did tell Utility Week that it had "recently started a small scale pilot installs of SMETS2 meters". It added that customers had responded positively to these installations, and that there are plans in place to start a wider rollout of SMETS2 meters next year. Eon Following "high customer satisfaction levels" with its existing one million SMETS1 installations, Gillian Baker, director of field operations and smart metering at Eon, says "the company is now focusing on installing SMETS2 meters and the remote upgrading of our existing one million smart meters as we get ready to move to the next phase of the rollout". Last month, a spokesperson told Utility Week that once it had "ironed out the final details and complexities", the company would start mass rollout. And Baker says they began installing SMETS2 meters this month, although she adds that, like the rest of the industry, it is currently at the testing phase. As to how it has managed to be among the frontrunners in the race to install SMETS2 meters, she says having been ahead of the game with SMETS1 is making the process an easier one. "We began installing smart meters early because we wanted to learn more about how we could fit them in the best and most effi- cient way for our customers. As a result, we're now better placed for the remaining smart meter rollout, providing the right technology to enable our customers to take more control of their energy use." She adds: "As one of the first suppliers to start installing smart meters, we remain committed to providing them for our customers' homes and businesses, so they can see the benefits for themselves sooner rather than later." Looking to the future, she says the company's key objective "is to engage customers in something they don't have to have, but that will give them much more control of their energy use, accurate bills, and the freedom to move supplier whilst retaining their smart meter". She says next year will be an important time for smart metering, and adds that SMETS2 will make a big difference to both the company and its customers. QUARTERLY DOMESTIC INSTALLATION ACTIVITY FOR LARGE ENERGY SUPPLIERS 1,250 0 Quarterly smart meter installations (000s) Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 All smart meters Electricity smart meters Gas smart meters Marks the inclusion of additional large suppliers to the series 4.06m 7.07m 3.01m

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