The Data Communications Company (DCC) has announced it has signed a commercial agreement which paves the way for more than four million SMETS1 meters to be migrated onto its system from the end of September.
This agreement, which was reached with meter company Secure SMSO Ltd, affects 32 per cent of the first-generation smart meter population.
SMETS1 devices have been earmarked to be enrolled onto the DCC network in three cohorts, the first of which (22 per cent) will migrate from 26 May in an initial operating capability.
The middle operating capability will begin on 30 September while the final operating capability (42 per cent) will begin on 12 December.
The remaining 4 per cent will be accounted for by EDMI smart metering solutions company in the final operating capability, according to the DCC.
The DCC says enrolment on its network ensures “full interoperability for SMETS1 meters”, which in most cases currently communicate only with the energy supplier which installed them.
Furthermore the supplier which installed a customer’s meter will be responsible for its migration.
A DCC spokesperson said: “Our smart, secure network is ready to operate at scale and we continue to support energy suppliers as they roll out smart meters across Britain.”
The smart meter rollout has been plagued with issues for a number of years, with one such problem being the lack of interoperability of the SMETS1 devices when a customer switches supplier.
Last week the head of consumer advocacy and engagement at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Oliver Sinclair, told a meeting of the all party parliamentary group on energy costs in the House of Commons that 450,000 SMETS2 devices have been installed and that the rate “continues to climb”.
However a report published last year by the National Audit Office (NAO) warned that the government’s original ambition of offering a smart meter to every home by 2020 will not be met, while the cost of the rollout will likely “escalate beyond initial expectations”.
The government also “underestimated” how long it would take to implement the infrastructure of SMETS2 smart meter devices, according to the spending watchdog.
Small supplier Avro Energy could be banned from taking on new customers if it has not become a DCC user by the end of May, Ofgem has warned.
The regulator proposes to issue Avro Energy with a “final order” due to it being in breach of the requirement to become a DCC user to help drive the installation of next generation SMETS2 meters.