It’s no secret that the UK Smart Meter roll out hasn’t fully met expectations, originally planned for completion in 2020, today we face many more years before we can get to sufficient saturation. At the same time the estimated costs have increased by about 25%.
The original business case for Smart Meters was based on the idea that people would use less energy if they could see their usage in real time, and the mandatory, but rarely used, in-home unit was designed to provide this view.
The future of our electricity system is dependent on Smart Meters. The UK government published its flexibility strategy this week, none of this works without Smart Meters.
The world has moved on a lot since the Smart Metering programme was launched. Today a consumer could be saving hundreds of pounds by signing up to a time of use tariff and shifting when they use electricity. The flexibility strategy suggests that this could be worth £200 per year, with a further £300 per year for EV users.
If 20 million homes each save £500 per year, that’s £10bn per year. For many homes even £200 would lift them out of fuel poverty.
We need to get a lot more focussed on completing the Smart Meter programme, which requires us to be honest about what needs to change.
Public engagement needs to be much clearer on the savings that people can make, so perhaps we need to move from Einstein to Rockefeller. All meter replacements have to be smart, ie mandatory. Gas meters don’t bring the same consumer benefits as electricity meters, so let’s deprioritise them and only set targets on electricity. Technical communications have been challenging, so we need to add home broadband as an option (now at 97% penetration).
For too long we have debated whether the UK should have a supplier or distributor led roll out. An option would open the market to accredited installers and let consumers choose who installs their meter. Alternatively regions could be allocated in an auction to the installers. As happens today the installer and owner of the meter will then get paid by the supplier.
