Customers with first generation smart meters will be able to upgrade their devices so that they can switch suppliers, Greg Clark has told the House of Commons.
During a debate on the Smart Meters Bill, which took place last week in the Commons, the business secretary said that customers with SMETS 1 meters would be able to access software so that they can be inter-operable with the SMETS 2 devices that will be rolled out from early next year.
Clark said: “Those who have a SMETS 1 smart meter will be able to access the software upgrades that will provide that interoperability.”
Energy minister Richard Harrington said later in the debate that the conversion of SMETS 1 meters would commence within a year.
He said: “A software programme is being developed that will allow full conversion between the two.
“That will be done remotely, so customers who have had the meters installed will not have to worry about people coming to their house and changing them again. That conversion programme will start within a year.”
Former energy and climate change secretary of state Sir Ed Davey said that it would reassure customers, who have SMETS 1 meters, if they know the software upgrades will be available.
“There is a danger that many suppliers, be they one of the big six or others, see the roll-out of as many SMETS 1 meters as possible as a way to stop competition and lock in their consumers.”
However Alan Whitehead, shadow energy minister, said the number of problems plaguing the roll out of smart meters mean that the 2020 target was unlikely to be achieved.
He said: “All these issues raise legitimate and far-reaching questions about whether the goal of having a critical mass of smart meters in place by the end of 2020 is likely to be achieved and whether, in the short time available to us, moves can be made to get us back to that goal.”
The Smart Meters Bill is designed to extend by five years the government’s powers to direct the roll-out of smart meters to 2023.
Caroline Flint, former shadow secretary of state for energy and climate change said that the extension of the powers was designed to help the government manage the anticipated overshoot on the 2020 target.