Restrictions on home visits during the coronavirus lockdown led to an 86 per cent reduction in smart meter installations over the second quarter of 2020 when compared to the same period last year, government figures have revealed.
In the earlier part of the lockdown, suppliers were prevented from installing the devices except in an emergency. Since the restrictions have been eased, the rollout has started to see a recovery.
An update from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy this morning (27 August) showed that 137,000 smart and advanced meters were installed by large energy suppliers over the three months to the end of June – 870,000 less than in the previous quarter.
As of 30 June, there were 21.5 million smart and advanced meters installed across homes and business across Great Britain. Of these, 17.4 million were smart meters in smart mode or advanced meters, meaning 4.1 million devices (8 per cent) were operating in traditional or ‘dumb’ mode.
The latest figures available for smaller suppliers cover the fourth quarter of 2019, which show they operated a total of 469,300 smart meters in smart mode, with a further 483,400 in ‘dumb’ mode.
Collectively across both large and small energy suppliers, there were 16 million smart meters known to be operating in smart mode in domestic properties in Great Britain as of 30 June 2020, representing 31 per cent of all domestic meters. When including smart meters in traditional mode, 39 per cent of all domestic meters are smart.
Meanwhile, just over 1 million smart meters were operating in smart mode or were advanced meters in non-domestic properties.
According to the latest figures from the Data Communications Company (DCC), 4.8 million SMETS2 smart meters are connected to the network while more than 800,000 SMETS1 devices have been migrated.
Responding to the latest installation figures Robert Cheesewright, director of corporate affairs at Smart Energy GB, said: “The climate crisis hasn’t gone away during the pandemic and we still need to act to ensure that our energy system is smart, clean and resilient for the future.
“While the latest figures show a reduction in installation numbers at the height of national lockdown, we expect installation numbers to rebound in future reports as restrictions are eased.
“Every single smart meter installed in Great Britain is a step closer to a smarter energy system that will be more efficient and make greater use of renewable energy.”
Utility Week recently revealed that the forthcoming Energy White Paper is expected to give suppliers more scope to push the installation of smart meters, particularly in non-domestic settings.
Mandating businesses to have smart meters installed would “make sense” considering recent changes to the rollout such as the shift towards tackling climate change, the DCC’s former chief technology/ innovation officer said in response.