The infrastructure is live in the central and southern regions of the UK, but no date has been confirmed for the north region to go live. The infrastructure is vital to connect smart meters to business systems of energy suppliers, network operators and other authorised service users of the network.
The Data and Communications Company (DCC), was originally expected to go live in December 2015 but was delayed until the following April. A further delay hit the rollout when postponed the date again to August and then September – until finally it missed its final contingency deadline in October this year.
A spokesperson for the DCC confirmed to Utility Week that “the majority of the DCC infrastructure is now live”.
This means that suppliers can now begin to rollout SMETS2 meters which will have better interoperability and make switching easier for consumers. It is not yet known whether the foundation meters installed up until now will become stranded assets.
The government has set out deadlines for using the DCC and meter installation as part of its plans to ensure a “timely” rollout. All domestic suppliers are required to be using the DCC by 1 August 2017, while large suppliers will also have to install 1,500 SMETS2 meters by 1 February 2017.
Installation rates for smart meters are expected to increase rapidly as suppliers aim to meet the overall target for every household to have been offered a smart meter by 2020.