personal finance

Energy customers confused over smart meter rollout


Energy customers with smart meters have been left in the dark over which suppliers will be compatible with their devices should they switch in future, after Ofgem, the energy regulator, declined to publish a list of providers to have signed up with the network.

The regulator was asked to publish a list of companies that are compliant with the smart meter scheme, under a Freedom of Information request by The Labrador, a switching service.

Ofgem declined, citing the Utilities Act, which it said states that businesses should be able to co-operate with the statutory regulator “without fear that their own interests might be compromised by subsequent disclosure of that information”.

Jane Lucy, founder of The Labrador, said it was “ridiculous” that the second-biggest household cost — energy bills — continues to be estimated for millions of people rather than measured by a smart meter.

“There is zero visibility to the public as to who they can switch to and have their smart meters maintained,” she said. “Given the enormous body of evidence surrounding the benefits of switching to ensure customers do not overpay on their energy bills by billions of pounds each year, it is in the public interest that the information on compliant suppliers is published — as promised.”

Smart meters allow consumers to see how much energy they are using in near real time and what this costs, helping them better manage energy usage and improve price transparency, while feeding this information back to suppliers.

The government has ordered a rollout of the technology and told suppliers to take all reasonable steps to ensure the meters are provided to all homes and small businesses by the end of 2020. Delays and escalating costs have frustrated these plans, however, the National Audit Office said last month there was no hope that the 2020 deadline for installing smart meters in every home would be met.

As of March this year, 11m smart meters had been installed across UK households. However, while all customers with smart meters can change provider, if they switch to a non-compliant supplier they lose the smart benefits of the meter. Some 943,000 meters are now thought to have lost their smart functionality, which means they are unable to communicate with their owner’s new energy supplier.

In a review of the progress made on the rollout by energy suppliers so far, Ofgem said that a key challenge in 2017 had been securing installation appointments with customers.

Andrew Hagger, personal finance expert at consumer website MoneyComms, said: “It seems bizarre that the regulator won’t give customers a list of the suppliers that are compliant with the smart meters. It takes a lot of effort to switch energy suppliers and it’s not something that people will want to do more than once, so it seems odd not to give people the full information right from the start.”

Ofgem said: “In carrying out our duties as the energy regulator, Ofgem handles a large amount of information from consumers and businesses, which is often both personal in nature and commercially sensitive. With the exception of a few prescribed circumstances, section 105 of the Utilities Act 2000 prohibits the disclosure of the information we receive.”

It did say, however, that suppliers must tell customers whether there is a risk that the customer’s smart meter will lose its smart functionality if the customer switches to them.

“All smart meters will ultimately be enrolled into the Data Communications Company which means that all smart meters will retain their functionality when customers switch,” said Ofgem.



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