UK Smart Meter Rollout Faces Delays and Functionality Issues

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The UK's smart meter rollout has faced multiple missed deadlines, with only 57% of homes and businesses having the devices installed. Around 9% of these devices are not functioning properly, and an estimated seven million more will lose functionality when the 2G and 3G mobile networks are closed. The Public Accounts Committee is calling on the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and energy regulator Ofgem to plan a smooth replacement scheme.

The Public Accounts Committee comprised of cross-party MPs penned a report to update the rollout of the smart meters, with multiple deadlines missed along the way of the £13.9 billion project ., which found that as of March 2023, energy companies had rolled out the devices to just 57 percent homes and businesses. Of these devices, around 9 percent were not functioning properly.

It asks both to set out"what they will do to ensure suppliers assign more importance than at present to replacing those smart meters not functioning properly" and"a timetable for replacing the communication hub element of smart meters that will lose functionality when the 2G and 3G mobile networks are switched off."

The scheme started in 2012 when government placed the legal burden on energy suppliers to ensure they'd complete the smart meter rollout by 2019. The deadline was then pushed back: first to the end of 2020, then to 2024. A consultation was launched in February, under which the intent is to install the devices in 80 percent of homes and 73 percent of small businesses by the end of that 2025.

 

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