Household smart meters give a live summary of energy usage and its cost – but the planned switch-off of 2G and 3G mobile networks means that some 7 million devices in England, Wales and Scotland will stop working, warns a government committee
By Matthew Sparkes
27 October 2023
Household smart meters give a live summary of how much energy you use and how much it is costing
Martin Prescott/iStockphoto/Getty Images
A cross-party committee of UK members of parliament has warned that 7 million electricity and gas smart meters are going to stop working in Great Britain. What will this mean for energy customers?
Why will so many smart meters stop working?
Smart meters, which are supposed to automatically report a household’s energy consumption to users and energy companies, use mobile phone networks to connect to energy company servers so they don’t have to rely on homes having broadband connections. The problem raised by the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts in its report on 20 October is that older 2G and 3G mobile networks, which are used by current smart meters, are being turned off and dismantled.
This will leave about 7 million homes without working smart meters, adding to the 3 million installed devices that already weren’t working as of March 2023, says the report.
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A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, which is responsible for smart meters, says energy companies will need to foot the bill. “Energy suppliers are also obliged to upgrade communications equipment to ensure smart meters continue to be connected, and we are working with industry to support a smooth transition for consumers when 2G and 3G is switched off at the end of 2033,” they say.
Will the smart meters need to be replaced?
Mike Hewitt, chief technology officer of the Data Communications Company (DCC), which has been contracted by the UK government to connect smart meters in homes with phone networks and energy suppliers, has said in a blog post that no smart meters will need replacing. However, a device called a communications hub, which is installed in every home alongside the smart meter, will need changing. The communication hubs take messages from the meters to a network.