Challenges thrown up by the pandemic should “supercharge” the focus of the smart meter rollout towards prepayment meter (PPM) customers, the chief executive of National Energy Action has said.
The smart meter rollout took a hit after lockdown measures were introduced, with the rate of installations falling by almost 95 per cent in April. Installers were initially only allowed to enter homes in emergencies, where consumers were either off supply or in danger of being so.
Adam Scorer said he believes smart meters are the precondition for addressing one of the most “egregious market failures in energy” – the challenges involved in being a PPM customer and the inability of suppliers to respond to crisis for those customers instantly, rather than weeks later.
Speaking to Utility Week, Scorer said: “Many things should be supercharged by Covid and in the energy system one thing which absolutely has to is the focus of the smart meter rollout. Most people would say we shouldn’t have started from the place we did in terms of doing it through competitive suppliers, smart prepay should be accelerated.
“Not only the installation of the meters, but the development of the levels and personalisation of service, the speed of response, as well as tariff structures, should be accelerated from suppliers so that the people on prepay, the most vulnerable, should be the first beneficiaries.”
Scorer welcomed the emergency measures introduced by the sector at the beginning of the pandemic, namely that the most vulnerable prepayment customers are protected, but added that advising PPM customers who could not leave their home to ask family and friends to top up does not work in practice and that smart prepayment was a better option.
“If you think about the steps by suppliers, the regulator and BEIS at the start of lockdown, their greatest concern was that those on PPM are likely to be hit hardest. Either because they might get affected by drops in income or are shielding. To be honest the response from a lot of suppliers, and there were some really good responses in terms of making sure emergency credit was available, was to say ‘well ask your family and friends to do it’, that doesn’t work in a restrictive lockdown.”
The full interview with Adam Scorer will be available on Utility Week shortly