Boston residents are number eight in the country for having the newest generation of smart meters, with 1-in-7 residents using this energy saving technology.
The Smart Data Communications Company (DCC), the company tasked by government to set up a secure national smart meter network, has announced today that its 2 millionth second-generation smart meter (SMETS2) was connected, and areas like Boston are helping lead the charge.
SMETS2 meters are the newest industry standard set out by the government, which were designed to be fully interoperable and continue to function as smart meters even if the consumer switches energy supplier. All SMETS2 meters in people’s homes are connected to the Smart DCC network.
Smart meters help people keep an eye on their energy usage and find easy ways to reduce their carbon impact. The more smart meters connected to the national network, the richer the data on energy usage becomes, allowing for future local renewables and energy storage projects to be better optimised. This data is becoming increasingly important with more electric vehicles getting connected to the grid.
Tewkesbury, Bolsover and South Derbyshire have taken the top spots nationally: their residents are officially the fastest adopters of this technology which is helping households to save energy and go green.
The national secure network underpinning energy smart meters is delivered and operated by the Smart DCC. Its CEO, Angus Flett, said: “Many areas in the country are really leading the charge and embracing smart meter technology, which is digitising our energy grid. Areas like Tewkesbury and Bolsover are playing their part in reaching our national net-zero carbon target, and their contribution could help local renewable and energy storage projects make a bigger impact.
“With 23 smart meters being installed every minute of the day, our network has grown quickly. We connected the millionth smart meter in May, and already that number’s doubled.
“As consumers see the benefit of smart meters enabling a low carbon economy we expect installations to accelerate further. This work reaffirms the DCC’s purpose of making Britain more connected so we can all live smarter, greener lives”
* Data generated using ONS local authority household data, crossed matched with DCC installation data.
Regional data
Though installations are growing across Britain at pace, there are some areas which are adopting smart meters even more rapidly. These localities have recently reached a point where 1-in-7 households have a second-generation (SMETS2) smart meter and are likely to be the first to full coverage.
The top ten areas in the Britain for SMETS2 take-up are as follows:
- Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire
- Bolsover, Derbyshire
- South Derbyshire
- Ashfield, Nottinghamshire
- Hinckley and Bosworth, Leicestershire
- Mansfield, Nottinghamshire
- Blaby, Leicestershire
- Boston, Lincolnshire
- Tendring, Essex
- Rugby, Warwickshire
Two million meters
Today’s milestone shows the scale of progress since June 2018, when the Business Secretary Greg Clark told the House of Commons that one thousand meters had been installed. In May 2019 the DCC recorded its one millionth meter connected. Now, just over four months later, the total has doubled.
The volume of data carried over the DCC’s secure network is also rising: 56 million messages were conveyed over the network in July alone — more than 50% higher than in April.
Core service providers working with the DCC on the smart meter roll-out are Telefonica and Arqiva (communications) and CGI (data). At full scale, the DCC network will provide greater reach than mobile, digital terrestrial TV and superfast broadband, bringing the benefits of smart metering to 30m homes and small businesses.
This two millionth meter milestone follows the publication of the DCC’s 5-year Business and Development plan which sets out its vision for the future of the roll-out and smart meter technology. To support the roll-out, it includes details of a new testing facility in Manchester, and future communications technologies which will push coverage to over 99% of Britain.