It may have suffered repeated delays, but the mass smart meter rollout will finally commence in September.
The drive to make smart meters mandatory dates back to when Ed Miliband was secretary of state for energy in the last Labour government.
But the rollout has proved more problematic than envisaged in 2011 when Miliband’s successor Chris Huhne announced that the exercise would commence in 2014.
The delays have largely stemmed from glitches with the DCC (Data Communications Company), the central communications system that is designed to handle data transfer between meters and suppliers, as well as dithering over meter specifications.
So far, approximately 3.6 million smart and advanced meters have been installed. But illustrating the scale of the challenge facing the industry, this figure represents a small fraction of the approximately 56 million meters that will have to be installed in 30 homes and small businesses by 2020 in order to meet the government’s goal of full coverage.
However now that rollout is due to begin in earnest, the focus is shifting to the impact that the smart meter revolution will have on the way the industry is organised.
As the industry gears up for the long awaited rollout ‘go live’ date, Utility Week in association with WNS, has conducted a wide-ranging survey of senior industry figures to gauge their expectations and concerns about the impact the rollout will have on their businesses.
They were probed on the industry’s readiness for the smart meter rollout. But the survey also looks beyond the rollout itself to examine how smart meters are changing the way energy companies, and energy networks, organise themselves and interact with customers, as well as a range of other factors.