Two major utility firms are to start smart metering pilots in the next few months to assess the technology’s effectiveness.
Scottish and Southern Energy plans to test smart meters in 5,000 homes across England, Scotland and Wales, while Centrica will announce details of its trial in the next couple of weeks.
The trials indicate that utilities are serious about implementing smart meters, which generate real-time energy readings and accurate cost calculations, and that they want to examine how the technology can be used to improve back-office efficiency.
‘The trials will focus on how smart meters can be put into practice,’ said Russell Hamblin-Boone, spokesman for the Energy Retail Association.
The technology is likely to receive a boost in the next couple of weeks when Energy regulator Ofgem adds its weight to the case for smart metering and reveals which utility firms will receive a share of £9.75m being made available to fund trials.
The government is also interested in the potential use of the technology as a way to tackle climate change by cutting domestic and business energy use.
Last week the Department of Trade and Industry began a consultation on reducing domestic energy use, in a follow-up to the Energy Review published in July.
But concerns remain that the government and Ofgem are not doing enough to ensure compatibility between meters used by different companies.
If the issue is not resolved, suppliers will not be able to work with the meters installed by a different firm, making it very expensive to switch suppliers, says Npower smart metering commercial manager Jane Franklin.
‘We are disappointed that the government and Ofgem are not taking a stronger lead,’ she said.
Jonathan Stern, campaigns manager at Energywatch, says not enough has been done to ensure compatibility, but believes smart metering will be a vital and inevitable part of future domestic energy use.
‘We think this technology needs to be developed and put into people’s homes as quickly as possible,’ he said. ‘I’m not sure the industry even really knows how to solve this issue yet.’
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