The launch of the mass rollout is due to be pushed back to October 2016, meaning the Data and Communications Company, which is running the programme, has yet to adopt a standard set of specifications for smart meters. The lack of an industry accepted standard means customers who have been given a smart meter by an “early adopter” supplier cannot switch to another supplier without potentially losing their smart functionality.
British Gas’ managing director of smart metering Jorge Pikunic told the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee inquiry on progress on the smart meter rollout that getting the DCC to adopt SMETS1 meters “as early as possible will ensure interoperability happens as soon as possible.”
He said: “The longer we leave it, the more suppliers have to operate two different infrastructures, adding cost. The sooner we have enrolment to the DCC, the better.”
Skanska’s senior director for smart grids Robert Murray told the committee there needs to be a focus on delivery and that the delay “does inhibit switching”.
He told MPs: “The longer we delay mass rollout, the harder it becomes and customers become more disenchanted with the programme.”
Eon’s director of new business, Don Leiper, agreed that without a functioning DCC, there are difficulties within the smart meter rollout when customers want to switch and that it is a “heavy duty exercise”.
He told the committee: “The role of DCC is to make sure it contacts and works with all meters on the walls on behalf of all suppliers. At that point will be no issue.
“At this point, before the DCC, there are issues. We might struggle to understand the meter we’ve adopted from another supplier.”
Ovo Energy’s managing director of in-home technology Melissa Gander, said that the independent supplier has successfully inherited SMETS1 meters from other suppliers, but added that “it can be a challenge” because the meters and the technology used “varies from supplier to supplier”.