The UK government has published statistics regarding the total number of smart meter installations across the UK as of December 2023.
A total of 3.5 million smart and advanced meters were installed in 2023, with installations by large and small suppliers making up 98% and 2%, respectively. This meant that total installations decreased by 6% compared to 2022, and electricity installations (6%) decreased slightly more than gas installations (5%).
In 2023, 3.3 million smart meters were installed in domestic properties, of which 99% (3.26 million) were installed by large suppliers, such as E.ON, British Gas, Octopus Energy and ScottishPower, to name a few, and 1% (32,000) by small suppliers.
Overall, domestic installations of smart meters increased by 8% compared to 2022, contrasting the total installation decrease of 6%.
In Q4 2023, 825,300 smart meters were installed by large energy suppliers, representing a 10% decrease in the same quarter in 2022 but an increase of 1.2% compared to the previous quarter.
It is also the second consecutive quarter that domestic installations carried out by large suppliers have increased during 2023 – the same pattern as 2022 quarterly installations.
The total number of smart meters installed across the UK stood at 34.8 million at the end of 2023; of these, 14.6 million are SMETS1 (Smart Metering Equipment Technical Specifications), 18.9 million are the more recent version, SMETS2, and 1.3 million are advanced meters.
A smart meter drop-off
This decrease comes as no surprise to industry members, as a downward trend has been noted over the past two years.
This came to a head in November 2023, when British Gas, OVO, Bulb, E.ON, Scottish Power and SSE were ordered to pay a combined £10.8 million after missing the smart meter installation target in 2022.
The companies have agreed to pay the total amount after a collective shortfall in installations of 1,026,628 smart meters by the required deadline. The £10.8 million was paid into Ofgem’s Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Fund (EIVRF).
The missed installation target was in violation of the government’s Smart Meter Targets Framework, which introduced an annual target for smart meter installations. This was to ensure that the government’s target of having a smart meter in 80% of English, Scottish and Welsh homes by the end of 2025 remained achievable.
However, improvements are still being made in the sector in order to make these types of meters more attractive to customers.
For example, last month (February), SSEN Distribution became the first Distribution Network Operator (DNO) to publish its smart meter half-hourly consumption datasets.
SSEN reported that there are 1.8 million smart meters across the firm’s north and south licence areas, recording the active and reactive half-hourly consumption, equating to over 170 million daily readings.
Access to the localised energy consumption will enable SSEN and interested parties, such as local authorities, flexibility markets and other energy suppliers, to model electricity demand with greater accuracy and efficiency.
