SMART metering promises set to improve everyone’s control over their energy use and costs. However it has been going through some teething troubles – which have received a lot of negative publicity.
SMART metering means any metering system which measures consumption of gas and/or electricity every half an hour (HH metering), and communicates remotely with suppliers and/or customers, for purposes of billing and/or monitoring, without need for manual meter readings.
This has the benefit of enabling users better to monitor, control and hopefully to reduce their consumption and costs.
A full report by consultant Emma Parriss (as of early 2019) may be downloaded from the foot of this page.
SMART metering for larger users (known as Maximum Demand) has already been ‘rolled out’, in the form of HH Advanced Meters.
SMART metering for electricity and gas is currently being rolled out for smaller users with a view to giving every customer the opportunity to have SMART metering installed and in operation, free of extra charge. In time, a smart meter should in theory be offered to every church.
Smart metering of water is now also being ‘rolled out’ by Thames Water, though this is proceeding slowly.
Some older SMART meters were – and some still are, at mid-2022, according to reports – unable to continue operating in SMART mode after a change of supplier.
These are either being replaced with the latest generation of SMART meters (known as SMETS2), or else they are remaining while being enrolled in the newer secure infrastructure. This process of enrolment for the earlier (SMETS1) meters has taken longer than planned.
This is to enable SMART functioning to be restored, and to remain inter-operable in future, even after you change your supplier.
The deadline for everyone to be offered a SMETS2 meter is now 2024. This may have been further delayed by the Covid-19 epidemic.
Environment and Sustainability, front page.
