The enduring COVID-19 lockdown across GB appears to have had a direct impact on energy suppliers’ ability to continue smart meter installation activity after a 40 percent year-on-year decrease in installations in January.
Data from ElectraLink’s Energy Market Data Hub (EMDH) shows that 149,000 smart meter installations took place in January 2021, compared to January 2020’s 246,000 installations.
The 40 percent drop is likely due to reinforced safety measures suppliers have implemented to protect field engineers and customers from spreading COVID-19.
The cumulative total installations for GB since the program began now stands at 14.864 million.
East England accounted for 21,000 installations, followed by Southern England with 20,000 and East Midlands with 16,000.
These smart meter insights were provided by ElectraLink’s Data Transfer Service Operations Team. For any questions on the information or data sources, please contact our helpdesk at [email protected] or call 020 7432 3012 for any questions about our energy market data services.
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The analysis is based on the D0150 data flows transmitted across our network and we believe capture the vast majority of smart meter installations.
The users of the DTS have given ElectraLink permission to intercept and analyse this, and other data flows, subject to certain conditions.
Our analysis defines smart meters as those models with the capability to handle time of use tariffs and which can be remotely updated.
For installations after September 2013, we count all meters flagged as SMETS1, SMETS2 or non-SMETS. For installations before the industry standard designation was agreed, the allocation is based on the make and model of meter.
