Smart Meter Rollout - Further Delays

Legacy_user

If the report below is to be believed, it would seem that the roll-out of the Smart Metering Data Communications Company (DCC) delayed last year from 1 October to 1 April 2016 is further delayed to August. This will in turn, delay the roll out of SMETS2 specification meters which would enable smart switching between suppliers.

http://powerutility.co/smart-meters-progress-or-delay/

C_Mababejive

I think one of the key issues, i.e the shortage of installation engineers needs careful handling.

When joe or joella public has a letter saying that someone is coming round to twiddle with their gas and electric meters they want that person to be clean cut, professional, friendly, efficient ,have good communication skills and most of all they want that person to have sufficient skills, experience and professionalism to undertake that work safely and to a high standard.

Unfortunately i fear there is a real danger that this element is being bodged.

The major DNOs eg National Grid etc are not involved in smart metering. They are not doing it.

What are we left with? Meter operators desperately trying to recruit and train people to do this work. Now im not saying they are all rubbish,,far from it,,but i have seen plenty of shocking incompetence.

System

Perhaps not a great surprise but the suppliers are also becoming frustrated with the whole smart metering roll out process. I suspect that this is down to customers becoming frustrated and angry.

http://utilityweek.co.uk/news/sse-foundation-meters-are-a-‘massive-risk’-to-the-smart-rollout/1194762#.Vtweese7dBw

CashStrapped

This is the problem with making things "smart". You immediately build in some sort of obsolescence. Once hardware (electronics) and software are built in to something (especially infrastructure) you then need to be able to support that hardware and software for decades to come.

If industry standards are not set out from the beginning, you get the mess that we are already in. I also wonder if the second roll out of smart meters will turn out to be any smoother.

Compare this (and I appreciate this is a distant comparison) with the roll-out of smart voting machines in American states. There was no universal voting machine. States spent tens of millions on procuring their own solutions. Fast forward only 5-10 years and many of these voting machines are completely obsolete. Hardware is no longer produced and/or supported and parts are sought on ebay. Some of these machines still only have 56k modem internet connections! Most states can no longer afford to procure new machines. So keeping their obsolete machines going is the only solution.

People forget how quickly technology advances and goes out of date.

I appreciate that at its core, a smart meter will still operate in the same way as a standard meter and there should be no problem in that regard. Any extra functionality a smart meter can provide is a bonus.

However, I can imagine that meters will end up requiring replacement more and more often in the future.

D_M_E

Some of the problems are also down to the meter installers not turning up to do the job at the time arranged with the end user.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Making the market work better for consumers ... ... empowering consumers first including pre-payment is what's needed and its the only part of the jigsaw that does not fit. Unless painless, fast, reliable and safe switching is made workable the 60% of the 'stickies' will stay ....... er ..... stuck.

Now lets see ? who is it that has been blocking, long-grassing, obfuscating better consumer outcomes up to now, who profits from this ?. I wonder ?

SpenderBob

Morning,

SSE are inviting me to have a smart meter fitted. My contract with them runs out in September and I will probably switch so is there any implications to having an Elstar smart meter fitted?
I don't care if my new supplier has to fit a different meter or I end up taking readings again but is there any reason why having one type of meter fitted precludes having a different meter installed later? I can't see why it should but just checking.

Cheers,
Bob

System

SpenderBob wrote: »

Morning,

SSE are inviting me to have a smart meter fitted. My contract with them runs out in September and I will probably switch so is there any implications to having an Elstar smart meter fitted?
I don't care if my new supplier has to fit a different meter or I end up taking readings again but is there any reason why having one type of meter fitted precludes having a different meter installed later? I can't see why it should but just checking.

Cheers,
Bob

\
Read my post above and the link to Utility week. You will get a SMETS1 smart meter which will probably go 'dumb' if you switch. It will be replaced in time either with SMETS2 functionality or a new SMETS2 meter.

SpenderBob

Thanks for your prompt reply, Hengus, and sorry for not spotting that you had already covered my query. I am going to let SSE fit the meter and see what happens when (or if) I switch. I will either be back into reading it myself or having some SSE equipment to get back to them.

Thanks,
Bob

GingerBob_3

Hengus wrote: »

If the report below is to be believed, it would seem that the roll-out of the Smart Metering Data Communications Company (DCC) delayed last year from 1 October to 1 April 2016 is further delayed to August. This will in turn, delay the roll out of SMETS2 specification meters which would enable smart switching between suppliers.

http://powerutility.co/smart-meters-progress-or-delay/

Good.


I hope the whole scheme is brought to its knees and abandoned.

System

SpenderBob wrote: »

Thanks for your prompt reply, Hengus, and sorry for not spotting that you had already covered my query. I am going to let SSE fit the meter and see what happens when (or if) I switch. I will either be back into reading it myself or having some SSE equipment to get back to them.

Thanks,
Bob

No - it doesn't work like that: the meter stays with you if you switch. You will then need to persuade your new supplier to install a new smart meter. The SMETS2 roll-out plan when the Data Communications Company goes live in August (???) is for 1500 SMETS 2 meters in the first year per Big 6 supplier. Personally, I would wait but it is a personal choice.