Smart Metering Systems (SMS) has seen solid growth across the first half of 2022 with the company citing in its half year results that the run rate for smart meter installations increased to over 40,000 per month since Q2 2022.
Smart meters have seen increasing interest from energy consumers as a means to manage soaring energy bills by presenting opportunities to utilise the low cost energy from the grid.
This coincides with the current energy crisis that has seen high wholesale prices over the second half of 2021 and into the beginning of 2022 lead to nearly 30 suppliers collapsing, along with Bulb entering Special Administration, since September.
SMS’s financial results revealed that since the start of Q2 2022, the run rate for smart meter installations has increased to over 40,000 per month (FY 2021: c.30,000 meters average per month).
There is also a strong growth predicted for the company’s smart meter installations with a contracted smart meter order pipeline at 30 June 2022 of c.2.42 million.
“We are pleased to see continued acceleration in our meter installation run rates, an increase in our smart meter portfolio and a new contract which adds to our smart meter order pipeline,” said Tim Mortlock, CEO of SMS.
The number of smart meters installed in GB in 2022 passed one million in late July, bringing the total to 1.18 million, according to ElectraLink.
This was achieved in June 2022, when there were 184,000 installations. This was down 12% from last month and 24% less year-on-year. This coincides with the results seen by SMS.
The regions with the highest installation figures for June 2022 were East England (24,000), Southern England (20,000) and the East Midlands (18,000), the regions that typically have the highest monthly installations, stated ElectraLink.
“The strong half year results again demonstrate the resilience of our business model, which is underpinned by our index-linked recurring cash flows from meter and data assets and reflect the strong performance of our first grid-scale battery storage project,” added Mortlock.
As indicated by Mortlock, SMS also saw its grid-scale battery portfolio increase to 760MW from 620MW since 31 December 2021.
This consisted of a 50MW site at Burwell becoming operational since end of January 2022 and also performing ahead of previous expectations. As well as this, 360MW has been fully secured, including 190MW in construction and an additional 350MW under exclusivity.
A second site of 40MW is now energised and is in the final stages of commissioning, SMS said, and a further 100MW is expected to come online by the end of the first half of 2023.
“Leveraging on our end-to-end platform, we have successfully built and begun to deliver a strong pipeline of grid-scale battery storage projects within a short period of time, with significant additional opportunities from this substantial and growing market,” said Mortlock.
Established in 1995, SMS is best known for its role in the national rollout of smart meters, where it provides funding, installation, operation and management of smart meters and carbon reduction assets.
SMS has additionally been expanding into the electrical vehicle (EV) market in a bid to accelerate the decarbonisation of British transportation and expand into energy data management. The company confirmed it has made strategic investments in Clenergy EV and n3rgy Data.
“Our two recent strategic investments in EV charging infrastructure and energy data are complementary to our existing end-to-end business model and enhance our ability to accelerate other carbon reduction (CaRe) products and services, providing opportunities for further growth over the long-term,” said Mortlock.
SMS was recently included in a joint heat pump innovation project with Samsung and BOXT that had been awarded funding by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
Financed via BEIS’s Heat Pump Ready Programme, the consortium aims to improve the deployment of heat pumps across the UK and reduce both the cost and ease of installation of the technology.
The project – dubbed Clean Heat Streets – will be rolled out in Oxford in two phases. The first one will look at developing news ways to select the most optimal neighbourhoods for deploying the technology to ensure a high uptake of heat pumps.
While the second part of the project will connect 3,000 homes across Oxford with local installers, as part of a trial that will explore ways to reduce the difficulties associated with installing a heat pump.