How we’re working to support customers to address non-communicating smart meters

As new smart meter Guaranteed Standards of Performance come into force in February 2026 and a new Smart Metering Policy Framework Post 2025 was laid before parliament in early March week, we take a look at the work we’re doing to help our customers ensure consumers get connected and stay connected.

In February, the first three new smart meter Guaranteed Standards of Performance (GSOPs) - covering smart meter installation timeliness, installation quality and issue resolution – came into force, providing further confidence and clarity on the service consumers should expect of getting and using a smart meter. In parallel, Government has confirmed its response to a consultation on a new smart meter target framework, including a new 90-day obligation for suppliers to resolve issues with non-communicating smart meters, and complete the rollout by the end of 2030.

More than 37 million smart meters are now installed in over 22 million homes and small businesses across Britain. Combined with advanced meters, this represents 70% of all meters according to the most recent DESNZ statistics. We’re continuing to work with customers to ensure our connectivity solutions support new installations. There are now 550k 4G Communications Hubs installed, with very positive engineer feedback and ongoing performance indicators. Our Virtual Wide Area Network solution is also due for launch later this year which will support those homes previously unable to connect to the Wide Area Network.

The vast majority of those meters that are installed are working as they should, unlocking smart metering benefits for energy consumers. But we understand that even one smart meter not working is one too many. That’s why ahead of a decision on GSOP 4, resolving non-communicating meters, later this year, we’re working across several areas to ensure we are playing our part in delivering a stable, secure and successful roll-out for smart metering across Britain.

Addressing smart metering issues requires a coordinated, whole sector effort. Over the past year we have made significant progress to address the volume of non-communicating meters with a reduction from 2.5% to 2.1% across the growing estate. This has been achieved by working increasingly closely with our customers and Service Providers to triage issues quickly and deliver effective solutions. It has also been aided by the roll-out of 4G communications Hubs as part of our ongoing work to upgrade and enhance the smart metering network.

Collectively we are designing and implementing new solutions to improve consumer experience. We’ll be making tangible improvements in how long-term meter issues are diagnosed, managed, and resolved. This includes:

• The transformation of our incident management processes, enabling issues to flow more rapidly from identification to resolution.
• Sharpening our diagnostic tools to give customers clearer, earlier insight into what’s going wrong.
• Improvements to our coverage checkers will help prevent problems before they occur.

Taken together, these improvements are helping to create the conditions for a genuine step change in consumer experience - supporting our customers and their consumers to truly benefit from smart enabled products and services.