Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent estimate he has made of the number of gas and electricity smart meters (a) that have been installed to date and (b) projected to be installed by the end of 2016.
Answered by Jesse Norman
As of the end of March 2016 over 3.6 million smart meters were operating under the programme. The Government publishes official statistics on the rollout of smart meters quarterly. The latest release can be found at:
The Government receives estimates of forecast smart meter installations from the larger energy suppliers. Their latest projections suggest a further 2.9 million meters are expected to be installed between 1 April 2016 and 31 December 2016.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of further delays to the DCC go-live date on the effectiveness of smart meter rollout.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Data and Communications Company is in the final stages of testing the national new data and communications infrastructure for smart metering. It is important to get this right to ensure a good consumer experience from the outset.
In parallel, the roll out continues to make good progress. Consumers are able to receive smart meters ahead of the national infrastructure going live and more than 3.6 million smart meters are already operating in homes and businesses across the country.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the revised 30 September 2016 deadline for DCC the go-live on energy consumers.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Data and Communications Company is in the final stages of testing the national new data and communications infrastructure for smart metering. It is important to get this right to ensure a good consumer experience from the outset.
In parallel, the roll out continues to make good progress. Consumers are able to receive smart meters ahead of the national infrastructure going live and more than 3.6 million smart meters are already operating in homes and businesses across the country.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to review the 2020 deadline for the rollout of smart meters to 100 per cent of UK households after delays to the DCC go-live date.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Energy Suppliers are required under licence conditions to take all reasonable steps to install smart meters in all of their domestic customers’ premises, and smart or advanced meters in smaller non-domestic sites, by 31 December 2020. There are no plans to amend this obligation.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will make it her policy to remove the deadline for the installation of SMETS 1 meters as a result of software upgrades making such meters compatible with her Department's requirements.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government remains committed to ensuring the industry and consumer benefits of SMETS2 meters operated through the Data and Communications Company (DCC) are realised as soon as possible, while providing industry sufficient time to transition from SMETS1 to SMETS2 meters.
The Government considers that a SMETS1 end-date of 12 months from availability of all DCC functionality strikes this balance; however we reserve the right to review the end date.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what plans she has to establish a cross-government team on the deployment of renewable and low-carbon heating.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department actively engages with other Government departments, including at ministerial level, on a range of interdepartmental groups engaged in reducing emissions from heating and working towards our renewable energy targets.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate she has made of the number of households which will refuse a smart meter.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has not made a specific estimate of the number of consumers that will refuse a smart meter. We will monitor this as the roll-out progresses.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether her Department plans to develop standard technical guidance and best practice guidelines for the energy storage market to ensure the safety and consistency of installations.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
DECC has provided more than £18million of innovation funding for energy storage since 2012 and this has included support for development of a Good Practice Guide on Electrical Energy Storage which was published in December 2014. The Good Practice Guide uses case studies and key lessons from recent energy storage demonstration projects to provide a practical reference guide for organisations which are interested in deploying or developing electrical energy storage in Great Britain.
DECC officials are also involved in ongoing discussions led by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) on technical guidance for electrical energy storage systems. Independent, professional bodies, such as the IET, are well-placed to lead development of relevant technical guidelines.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what plans she has to ensure that Smart Energy GB takes steps to reduce instances of engineers having to make more than one visit to an address because a customer was not at home.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Smart Energy GB is responsible for providing a programme of national consumer engagement about the roll-out of smart meters in Great Britain. Its website provides information and advice to consumers about the installation process, including the need to be at the premises during the installation:
https://www.smartenergygb.org/en/how-to-get-a-smart-meter/the-installation-process.
In addition, energy suppliers are required under the Smart Meter Installation Code of Practice to ensure that their communications about the installation visit explain clearly to the customer that they need to be at the premises:
http://www.smicop.co.uk/SitePages/Home.aspx.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department plan to take in response to the key themes set out in the discussion paper published by Ofgem in September 2015.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is taking steps in a number of areas that respond to the key themes set out in Ofgem’s paper on ‘Non-traditional business models’. This includes:
In addition, we are supportive of the work by Ofgem to:
Consult on the future of the £100m Network Innovation Competition to better enable network innovation by non-licenced companies from 2017, to maximise the delivery of genuinely innovative projects and technologies.