The number of smart meters rolled out in October hit a record high, with almost a quarter of a million installations.
This is the most seen in any month in 2020, with the rollout of the green technology severely hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic and following lockdown.
In October, 247,000 smart meter installations were registered by ElectraLink, up 7% on September.
“With the latest nationwide lockdown from 5 November to combat the spread of COVID-19, it will be interesting to see how the installation rate changes,” wrote the company. “During the first national lockdown in spring this year, smart meter installations fell sharply due to efforts to keep households, employees and site engineers safe.
“However, energy suppliers are implementing social distancing safety measures to prevent transmission of the virus between engineers and end users in an attempt to keep the smart meter rollout on track.”
September saw the first year-on-year increase since the first lockdown began in March, in a pick-up welcomed in the energy sector.
Installations of smart meters were paused due to the COVID-19 lockdown earlier in the year, but restarted again in June. The government has extended the obligation to take All Reasonable Steps to install smart meters by six months, as a result of the challenges created by COVID-19.
Including last month, there have been 1.588 million smart meters installed in 2020, and 14.3 million installed cumulatively since the national programme began.
