Home / Sources / Select Committees / Public Accounts Committee / Update on the rollout of smart meters
Index live
Select Committee · Public Accounts Committee

Update on the rollout of smart meters

Status: Closed Opened: 17 May 2023 Closed: 14 Feb 2024 5 recommendations 20 conclusions 1 report

Energy suppliers are legally obliged to meet bespoke annual individual minimum smart meter installation targets for domestic and small business customers in Great Britain in the period from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2025. At the end of December 2022, 55% of all meters were smart, meaning they can provide near-real time information to … Show more

Clear

Reports

1 report
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Seventy-Second Report - Update on the rollout of smart mete… HC 1332 20 Oct 2023 25 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

3 items
8 Conclusion Seventy-Second Report - Update on the r… Acknowledged

Smart meters demonstrate energy consumption reductions for electricity and gas users

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 … Read more

Government response AI 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.
Read full response →
HM Treasury
17 Conclusion Seventy-Second Report - Update on the r… Acknowledged

Nine percent of installed smart meters, totalling three million, were not working properly.

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 … Read more

Government response AI 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.
Read full response →
HM Treasury
18 Conclusion Seventy-Second Report - Update on the r… Acknowledged

One point six million non-functioning smart meters stem from transitory commissioning and switching issues.

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 … Read more

Government response AI 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.
Read full response →
HM Treasury

Oral evidence sessions

1 session
Date Witnesses
22 Jun 2023 Anne Pardoe · Citizens Advice, Clive Maxwell · Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Daisy Cross · Energy UK, Daron Walker · Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Marcus Shepheard · Climate Change Committee, Neil Kenward · Ofgem View ↗

Who gave evidence

6 witnesses
WitnessOrganisationSessions
Anne Pardoe · Head of Policy Citizens Advice 1
Clive Maxwell · Second Permanent Secretary Department for Energy Security and Net Zero 1
Daisy Cross · Head of Future Retail Markets Energy UK 1
Daron Walker · Smart Metering Implementation Programme Senior Re… Department for Energy Security and Net Zero 1
Marcus Shepheard · Lead Analyst Residential Buildings Climate Change Committee 1
Neil Kenward · Director for Strategy and Interim Director for Ma… Ofgem 1

Correspondence

2 letters
DateDirectionTitle
11 Jul 2023 — Correspondence from Daisy Cross, Head of Future, Retail Markets, Energy UK, re …
10 Jul 2023 — Correspondence from Dan Brooke, CEO, Smart Energy GB, re Update on the rollout …