The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has released its quarterly report on the rollout of smart meters across Great Britain.
From Q3 of 2024 to the end of September 2024, 710,000 smart meters were installed in homes and small non-domestic properties. That was a 2.9% increase in installations compared to the previous quarter but down by 16% on Q3 the previous year.
By the end of September this year, 37 million smart and advanced meters were in homes and small businesses across the nation; 65% of all meters are now smart or advanced.
The government was targeting 100% coverage by 2025 before scaling back its target to have smart meters installed in 80% of homes and 73% of small businesses by the end of 2025. However, with less than 1 million smart meters being installed every three months, it seems unlikely this target will be met.
Smart meters communicate automatically with energy suppliers, which negates the need for manual. The technology also enables new approaches to energy demand—demand flexibility is seen as a key puzzle piece in decarbonisation.
While grid balancing will have long-term benefits for consumers, incentivising participation in demand flexibility is necessary; many major suppliers offer time-of-use tariffs that offer reduced energy costs for use away from peak times. A smart meter can also help integrate technologies like electric vehicles and smart appliances with renewable home energy sources.
Government funded home upgrades
The Home Upgrade Grant (HUG) and Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery scheme (LAD) are government schemes supporting energy efficiency upgrades of low-energy efficiency, low-income households across England.
While smart technology can reduce energy bills, installing the necessary equipment is costly—those who stand to benefit most from demand flexibility (and thus, arguably, most willingly engage) often cannot afford upfront installation costs.
The second phase of the HUG has allocated £630 million for delivery between September 2023 and March 2025. LAD phases 1 and 2 previously received £500 million between them. These schemes ran between 2020-2022. LAD Phase 3 made £287 million of funding available for local authorities.
HUG 2 has installed around 6,400 measures across 3,800 households to date, including some initial data for October. There were 690 measures installed and 410 upgraded households reported in September
Across all of the schemes’ phases, there were a reported total of 90,600 measures installed in 66,300 households.
Across HUG 2, solar PV was the most common technology installed, accounting for 37% of installations. Low-carbon heat accounted for around 29% of HUG 2 measures, followed by insulation (26%).
Boiler upgrade scheme and warmer homes
The Warm Homes Plan has formally been allocated £3.4 billion over the next three years to support heat decarbonisation and household energy efficiency. This includes a major funding uptick for the boiler upgrade scheme (BUS) and a boost to the heat pump manufacturing sector.
As Current± reported yesterday, the total number of payments made under the BUS has reached 37,417. As part of measures introduced to decarbonise the UK’s domestic properties, from early next year, households will be able to install an air source heat pump without obtaining planning permission.
