OVO Energy is to pay £1.2 million to Ofgem after SSE Energy Services failed to meet its 2019 smart meter targets.
The company missed its targets before OVO acquired the supplier in January 2020, however as the now-owner of SSE Energy Services OVO has agreed to pay the sum.
Due to the voluntary payment to the consumer redress fund, Ofgem has decided not to take formal enforcement action.
This isn’t the first time SSE has paid into the consumer redress fund, having paid £700,000 in 2019 due to missing its gas smart meter target for 2018.
SSE Energy Services isn’t alone in failing to meet its targets. In 2019, half of suppliers failed to meet targets, with Ofgem announcing in July 2020 it would be examining how this had occurred and whether it was within the suppliers’ control.
Suppliers are required by their licence to take all reasonable steps (ARS) to rollout smart meters to homes and small businesses, with Ofgem proposing the deadline for achieving this be pushed back by four years last year.
This was then confirmed in June 2020, although the current ARS period is set to end in July 2021 after having been granted a 6 month extension. The new four year framework will be implemented following this, with each supplier having an annual target that should take them towards full market rollout.
Installations of smart meters were paused in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, although they started back up again in June.
In July, installations jumped 120% compared to the month before, although the number of meters installed was still down 36% from the same month last year.