The government must take action to address the slow progress of the smart meter rollout, MPs have argued.
Speaking on panel at the Utility Week Energy Summit in London, they said, on the current trajectory, the target of offering all households a smart meter by 2020 will not be met.
“I don’t think we will hit the target realistically, and I think there needs to be a good look at why,” said Antoinette Sandbach, chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee.
She said there is a “real concern” that consumers are not buying into the scheme because of a mistrust of suppliers and that more work needs to be done to promote the benefits.
Labour shadow minister for energy and climate change, Alan Whitehead, drew attention to the low rate of SMETS2 installations in particular, noting that the cumulative total had only risen from 250 in November to 1,000 in June.
He joked that if installations continued at the same pace the smart meter target would be reached in “under 6,000 years”.
Whitehead warned that the industry is approaching a “cliff edge” where “SMETS1 ordering stops, and so they stop being produced”. He said SMETS2 meters are not being produced in sufficient numbers and that a situation will emerge “in about a year’s time” in which “there will be empty vans going around for installations.”
He claimed the government is currently “paralysed” and merely “hoping somehow that the SMETS2 meters are going to turn out to be ok.”
Whitehead’s solution would be to continue rolling out SMETS1 meters “as fast as possible”.
“There are protocols which can make them operate more or less like SMETS2 meters, and then SMETS2 meters can be put in the box for replacements further down the line,” he explained.
Former energy secretary Ed Davey said the government should scrap the 2020 deadline on the basis that the “SMETS2 rollout has gone way slower than was planned”.
He disagreed with Whitehead’s suggested solution, saying he was “really worried” that suppliers would try to meet their targets through SMETS1 installations, which could be a “disaster” for consumers.
Fleshing out his fears, Davey added: “When I spoke to Greg about this a few months ago, he said they’ve got lots of ideas about retrofitting SMETS1 with clever technology.”
“I’ve not yet seen anyone be convinced about that”.
The government published a consultation on its plans for the next stage of the smart meter rollout in April.