smart meter

  • Home supply and services

    Highlights from our Energy Supplier Compliance webinar

    As part of our Energy supplier compliance portal service, we run a webinar every 6 months which looks at key updates.    Our latest webinar looked back at the decisions made under Ofgem’s financial resilience plan. This included strengthening milestone assessments and introducing additional reporting requirements. It also decided on the short-term interventions...

  • Regulation and policy

    What will the introduction of the Retail Energy Code mean for metering companies?

    Ofgem has proposed that certain metering companies will need to become full parties to the new dual fuel Retail Energy Code (REC). What will this mean in practice? Metering Equipment Managers (MEMs) is a term introduced for the REC, encompassing electricity Meter Operator Agents (commonly termed MOPs) and gas Meter...

  • Regulation and policy

    New horizons: DCC plans to expand remit over next 5 years

    The government awarded the Data Communications Company (DCC) licence to Capita subsidiary Smart DCC Ltd in 2013. As an Ofgem-regulated monopoly, the DCC’s remit was to set up the smart metering communications infrastructure, linking up 53mn electricity and gas meters with the systems of energy suppliers, network companies and third...

  • Home supply and services

    DCC systems now supporting over 4mn meters

    One year ago, the SMETS1 end date was approaching for suppliers with derogations and for smart meters installed for prepayment customers. At this time, there were only around half a million SMETS2 meters installed, with almost 12mn SMETS1 meters deployed. A year on, SMETS2 installs have ramped up significantly, and...

  • Home supply and services

    Comparing smart tariffs – could it be smarter?

    By the end of September 2019, 15.6mn households had a smart meter installed, increasing access to consumption information and monitoring. While only a small proportion of households currently use half hourly tariffs (and there isn’t currently market wide half hourly settlement of domestic smart meters), the industry is widely discussing...

  • Announcement

    BBC Radio 4 Interview: The decline of smart meter installations

    Robert Buckley, our Head of Retail and Relationship Development, spoke live on BBC Radio 4’s You & Yours programme about Cornwall Insight’s latest research on smart meters. The research showed that to meet the 2020 deadline, the installation of smart meters would need to quadruple to reach the target; instead,...

  • Regulation and policy

    Market Wide Half-Hourly Settlement: Half-way home or just the first steps on the journey to a smart, flexible, energy system?

    Ofgem’s electricity settlement reform programme—the Market-wide Half Hourly Settlement (MHHS) Significant Code Review (SCR)—is around the half-way point towards introducing arrangements that ensure the benefits of smart meters can be delivered to enable “a smart, flexible, energy system”. The ambition is for smart meter data to be used within the electricity settlements system to...

  • Regulation and policy

    Government moves to mandate SMETS2 installations, but at what cost?

    There is little more than a month to go until 15 March, after which date first generation smart meters (SMETS1) installed for prepayment purposes or by suppliers with derogations will not count towards smart meter roll out targets. However, there is now another deadline looming, with BEIS consulting on its...

  • Regulation and policy

    Smart meter rollout: Ofgem’s latest thinking

    Ofgem’s latest thinking on the smart meter rollout was captured in an open letter on 15 May.  This letter is Ofgem’s fifth concerned with the rollout and taken collectively the letters set out what the regulator expects from suppliers. The latest letter is essential reading for everyone involved in the...

  • Home supply and services

    SMETS2 is coming – but who’s going to install it?

    In the world of smart metering, many of the impacts of the delayed transition to SMETS2 technology are well understood and discussed. Indeed, the derogations given by BEIS to 12 suppliers supplying 86% of the market to install further SMETS1 meters between October 2018 and January 2019, and the consultations...

  • Home supply and services

    Index of Domestic Energy Supply Costs | March 2018

    Government policy costs drive up the Index of Domestic Electricity Supply Costs in April Policy costs exerted a 52 point increase on the Cornwall Insight Index of Domestic Electricity Supply Costs in April as the charges for subsidising renewable electricity, paying for the Smart DCC’s smart metering infrastructure, and social...

  • Home supply and services

    Why are suppliers pushing customers so hard on smart?

    As the 2020 deadline for domestic smart metering looms, suppliers across the board are ramping up their install rates. During the first three months of 2018, we’ve witnessed a variety of tactics used to increase installation rates – some of which have drawn criticism from the press. So why the...

  • Regulation and policy

    Impasse at Stormont – what now for Northern Ireland energy policy?

    Power-sharing talks between Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) collapsed on 14 February, meaning continued uncertainty on the future policy direction for Northern Ireland (NI). This lack of surety extends into energy. There is a clear sectoral policy gap; the need for an update to the 2010 Strategic...

  • Home supply and services

    Critical time for the smart meter roll-out

    This year is make or break time in the roll-out of smart meters.  Our research shows that roughly 10mn meters have been installed so far.  That leaves more than 40mn to go, with less than 3 years to do it in. There has been a flurry of recent directions from...

  • Home supply and services

    10mn meters – long road ahead for smart roll-out

    Our latest Domestic Smart Metering Market report, published last week, shows 10mn domestic smart meters had been installed by the end of 2017. Although this is a significant milestone, and the rate of installations has increased, there is a long way to go for the smart meter roll-out. As the...