Smart meter installation rates saw a dramatic recovery in July following the Covid-induced slowdown, ElectraLink’s latest figures show.
Lockdown measures resulted in a sharp decrease in smart meter installations in March and April but according to the company’s data July’s figures were close to 152,000 which is 120 percent more than the previous month.
Although last month’s figures still show a 36 per cent drop against July last year, the gap is closing – June 2020’s figures were down 67 per cent on the previous year.
The East of England had the most installations with 20,482 followed closely by Southern England with 19,913 installs and the East Midlands with 14,728. The cumulative number of installations since the programme began is 13.6 million.
The latest figures from the Data Communications Company (DCC) show that more than 4.7 million second-generation SMETS2 meters have been installed to date. Meanwhile almost 662,000 SMETS1 meters have been migrated onto its system.
Last year, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) announced the deadline would be pushed back to 2024. Due to the impact of coronavirus, the rollout deadline has been pushed back again by six months.