Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 23 July 2018 to Question 163508 on Housing: Solar Power and with reference to the Building Research Establishment's report, Fire and solar PV systems - recommendations for the photovoltaic industry, published on 17 July 2017, what steps his Department plans to take as a result of those recommendations.
Answered by Claire Perry
This interim report made recommendations to industry, standards bodies and training organisations for changes to further reduce the already very small risk of fires caused by solar photo-voltaic systems.
Since its publication the BRE National Solar Centre has been working on behalf of the Department to ensure relevant bodies, such as the Microgeneration Certification Scheme, British Standards Institute and the International Electrotechnical Commission, are aware of the findings so they can take steps to update standards, guidance and advice accordingly.
Most recently they held a workshop on 20th November, with relevant technical experts, to consider amongst other issues whether changes to building regulations might be required.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the timetable is for SMETS2 meters to be made available for pre-payment consumers.
Answered by Claire Perry
Energy suppliers are currently testing their SMETS2 pre-payment metering solutions. When these are made available to their customers is a matter for individual energy suppliers.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of removing gas meter installations from the smart meters implementation programme; and the effect of the removal of those installations on dual fuel energy tariffs.
Answered by Claire Perry
We have made no such assessment as there is a compelling case for including gas meters in the roll-out of smart meters across Great Britain as set out in our latest Cost Benefit Analysis.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the timetable is for his Department to classify the compatibility of SMETS2 gas meters with the DCCs communication systems as reliable, and what assessment he has made of the effect of that timetable on progress on the 2020 deadline for the smart meters roll-out programme.
Answered by Claire Perry
This is a matter for individual energy suppliers to decide. Their assessment of the reliability of their SMETS2 offering will need to take account of, amongst other things, their own progress in integrating their meters with the DCC system and the testing of their own back office systems.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many meters a DCC communications hub will need to have (a) tested and (b) operating on its communication system before a decision can be made on the reliability of that system.
Answered by Claire Perry
This is a matter for individual energy suppliers to decide. Their assessment of the reliability of their SMETS2 offering will need to take account of, amongst other things, their own progress in integrating their meters with the DCC system and the testing of their own back office systems.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, for what reasons the end date for the installation of SMETS1 meters has been extended again; and what assessment he has made of the effect of multiple extensions to the SMETS1 deadline on the readiness of the supply chains for (a) SMETS1 and (b) SMETS2 meters.
Answered by Claire Perry
The leading energy suppliers have started rolling out SMETS2 meters to their customers and others are working with the Data Communications Company to complete testing of SMETS2 meters ahead of moving to full scale roll-out.
The Government is consulting on making a final adjustment to the deadline for installing SMETS1 meters to give those energy suppliers who need more time to ensure their customers get a good experience of SMETS2 meters from the outset and so consumers can continue to benefit from SMETS1 meter installations in the meantime.
We have amended the proposed deadline in response to evidence from energy suppliers and the DCC and have given notice to allow energy suppliers to manage the transition including in relation to installation capacity.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effect of the recent extension to the SMETS1 installation deadline on the installation capacity of energy suppliers.
Answered by Claire Perry
The leading energy suppliers have started rolling out SMETS2 meters to their customers and others are working with the Data Communications Company to complete testing of SMETS2 meters ahead of moving to full scale roll-out.
The Government is consulting on making a final adjustment to the deadline for installing SMETS1 meters to give those energy suppliers who need more time to ensure their customers get a good experience of SMETS2 meters from the outset and so consumers can continue to benefit from SMETS1 meter installations in the meantime.
We have amended the proposed deadline in response to evidence from energy suppliers and the DCC and have given notice to allow energy suppliers to manage the transition including in relation to installation capacity.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, for what reasons the installation of SMETS2 meters is taking longer than that of SMETS1 meters; and what assessment he has made of the effect of that time taken on (a) installation costs and (b) the customer experience.
Answered by Claire Perry
Feedback from energy suppliers based on their SMETS2 installations does not indicate that installation times will be materially different to SMETS1 installation times once installer experience of second generation metering matures.
We will continue to monitor the consumer experience as SMETS2 deployment increases.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress has been made on the plans of the Data Communications Company to (a) enrol and (b) adopt SMETS1 meters; what information he holds on the timetable for the completion of those plans; and whether the services of the DCC need to be fully scalable and reliable before those plans can be completed.
Answered by Claire Perry
Work to design, build and test a service to enrol and adopt SMETS1 meters continues. This will see the Data and Communications Company (DCC) link its systems to at least two companies already providing SMETS1 services to energy suppliers at scale. The DCC’s current plan is that the enrolment service for the first cohort of SMETS1 meters will go live at the end of the year. We expect to publish the Government’s conclusions to consultations in this area later this summer and to consult on enrolment of the remaining cohorts of SMETS1 meters.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress he has made on a communications solution for signal penetration issues which prevent the installation of smart meters in properties.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Data Comms Company has contracted for Wide Area Network coverage for at least 99.25% of premises in Great Britain. The Government’s strategy for smart metering Home Area Network (HAN) coverage aims to ensure 100% HAN coverage. The core solution ensures 70% of premises have Home Area Network coverage. This will increase to around 95% of premises from early 2019. Industry is working to develop HAN solutions for the remaining c. 5% of premises.