It emerged earlier this month the government has extended the deadline for the installation of the first generation of smart meters, SMETS1 by three months – the original end date for SMETS1 of 13 July 2018 has now been pushed back to 5 October 2018.
Ministers set a target of the end of 2020 for every home to be offered a smart meter, which the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said will not be affected by the push back. We asked the big six energy suppliers whether they were in agreement.
Eon
An Eon spokesperson said: “We’ve installed more than a million smart meters in our customers’ properties and our primary concern has always been to ensure that we deliver the right solution for customers and that we, as an industry, get the rollout of smart meters right. The announcement of extending the deadline means that we have the flexibility to do this whilst the industry transitions over to the new systems and meters being introduced.
“We and the rest of the industry have made great progress towards getting these new systems up and running, starting to install and test the new smart meters towards the end of last year, and we are confident that we will be able to start the full transition to these in the coming months.
“We remain fully committed to providing smart meters for our customers, so they can see the benefits for themselves and take more control of their energy use.”
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SSE
An SSE spokesman said: “The extension to the deadline for the installation of SMETS1 is welcome and should help ensure the supporting infrastructure is sufficiently able to support the mass roll out of SMETS2. This is a significant milestone in the smart programme, and getting it right so customers have the best possible experience is key.
“SSE is making good progress in rolling out smart meters and continues to work hard to meet its license obligation to roll out smart meters to customers by 2020.”
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EDF
An EDF spokesperson: “EDF is committed to the national rollout and getting it right for our customers. We have installed more than 500,000 smart meters already and that number is increasing day by day.
“We are well underway with testing the new SMETS2 meters and with pilot installations in progress and mass rollout expected in 2018.”
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Npower
An Npower spokesperson said: “BEIS’ decision to extend the SMETS1 installation end date is not linked to the 2020 deadline for offering all customers a smart meter.”
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British Gas
A British Gas spokesperson said: “We don’t have anything to add to this.”
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Scottish Power declined to comment.