Seventy-Second Report - Update on the rollout of smart meters
Select Committee
Public Accounts Committee
HC 1332
20 October 2023
Recommendations
0 resultsNo recommendations found matching the selected filters. Clear filters
Conclusions (3) Observations and findings — click to expand
8
Conclusion
Acknowledged
The Department has commissioned research to identify the energy consumption savings made by consumers with functioning smart meters. The estimates show energy reductions of 3.3% to 3.6% for electricity and 2.9% to 3.1% for gas. These findings are based on a sample of 500,000 consumers who had a first-generation smart …
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the committee's observation regarding energy savings from smart meters, detailing its ongoing programme of data collection, monitoring, and evaluation, including recent published evidence and future evaluation research in development.
17
Conclusion
Acknowledged
As at March 2023, 3 million smart meters were not working properly; which means that these meters were either not sending energy use information to suppliers or not displaying this information to consumers, or both. This equated to 9% of the 32.4 million smart meters installed.56 Keeping smart meters working …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the committee's observation about the complexity of keeping smart meters working and reiterates existing requirements for energy suppliers to monitor and maintain their metering estate, including In-Home Displays, and mentions ongoing work to develop good practice and track performance.
18
Conclusion
Acknowledged
The Department identified three main reasons why a smart meter might not be functioning. In June 2023, it told us that approximately 1 million of the 3 million non- functioning meters were new installations where the smart meter is not commissioned when installed, which can be intentional, such as in …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the committee's observation that issues can be resolved but primarily reiterates existing efforts and supplier responsibilities for monitoring and maintaining smart meter health, without committing to new specific actions directly addressing the identified categories of non-functioning meters.