British Gas Smart Meters

A deal signed between British Gas and Landis+Gyr assisted in deploying smart meters for its customers over the launch period.

The original government target was to install smart meters in all homes by 2020. British Gas planned to install over 1 million gas and electricity smart meters each year, which was far ahead of the targets set by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

New jobs and massive investment

The total investment by British Gas in its smart meter programme is estimated to be worth about £200 million and create around 2,600 engineering installation jobs around the UK. The plan is to have around 1 million smart meters installed over the next 12 months by fitting these instead of standard meters when faulty meters need replacing. British Gas has also partnered with Vodafone to transmit the data the meters collect and SAP for the billing systems.

The government initially announced that it wanted smart meters installed for every home in the UK by 2020, with the first installations not anticipated before 2012, so this was a massive kick-start to the whole process. British Gas, in any case, replaces around 850,000 faulty meters each year, so it’s an exercise to bring the nation’s meters up to date just by replacing old ones with new, technically advanced systems.

The rollout was not mandatory, so take-up was slow. The current target is for all homes to have smart meters by the end of 2030, but this is again not a compulsory deadline.

Newer technology

There is now an overall organisation that manages the UK smart meter rollout and infrastructure called the Data Communications Company (DCC). The system has a technical standard named Smart Metering Equipment Technical Specification (SMETS). The original smart meters ran on so-called SMETS1, which wasn’t compatible with all suppliers.

The current meters installed are SMETS2, which work with all suppliers, meaning switching to the lowest electricity prices and tariffs is easier. If you had a smart meter fitted before the Summer of 2019, then you’ll need to move onto the new system.

What will a smart meter do for you?

A smart meter is different from an energy monitor. They automatically collect data from a homeowner’s energy usage and wirelessly transmit it back to the supplier’s billing systems. This usage data is collected automatically every 30 minutes, meaning a meter never has to be manually read again, leading to 100% accurate and up-to-date bills.

Homeowners can then analyse the data collected either on their online account or through other various software applications that integrate with their account. It’s estimated that by seeing how usage figures vary, most homes should be able to save at least 3% on their total energy costs. Studies in the US that have installed smart meters show savings of around 10% in some circumstances.

Each smart meter installation costs around £340, but British Gas effectively takes on this cost with no charge passed to the consumer. They are also developing this system as open source, so all the other major energy companies can use the technology. This technology is great news for people who regularly switch their energy supplier, so they can continue to use the data from their meter.