30 million smart meters now connected to our network

The smart meter network is a critical part of the nation’s energy infrastructure and an important platform for digitalising the power grid, a key step in Britain’s path to net zero. As well as allowing households to monitor their energy consumption, 30 million connected smart meters in over 18 million households in Great Britain gives energy suppliers and network operators access to real-time information about energy supply and demand. The nationwide smart meter network is playing an increasingly important role in maintaining grid balance and stability, as well as facilitating the integration of more renewable energy sources and technologies onto the grid.

Over the past year, smart meters on the DCC network are estimated to have saved 1.2 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions – the equivalent of taking 267,000 cars off the road for a year or the energy usage of over 150,000 homes in a year. With over 16,000 smart meters being added to the network each day and almost 2 billion messages sent monthly, the potential of this data to continue to support the transformation of the country’s energy system is only growing. More information and data around the current smart meter roll-out can be found on the DCC data dashboard.

30 million smart meters also means more consumers and small businesses than ever are now in control of their energy usage, with access to near real-time information about their consumption and more accurate billing. Smart meter users have access to the groundbreaking Demand Flexibility Service which incentivises consumers to shift their consumption from peak times, helping to balance the grid and reducing the need for additional fossil-fuel generation. The insights from smart meter data can also be used to deliver wider social benefit, such as our award-winning uZero partnership with UrbanTide, which  combines anonymised smart meter system data with other datasets and AI to identify areas likely to be at risk of fuel poverty, enabling relevant bodies to provide targeted support.

Angus Flett, CEO of DCC, commented:

“Reaching 30 million connected smart meters in over 18m homes is another landmark milestone in pursuit of our purpose to make Britain more connected so we can all lead smarter, greener lives. As the UK continues its journey of electrification to decarbonise, the DCC is already playing a vital role in the transition to a smarter, greener energy system and this will continue to be paramount as energy sector reforms place greater need to accelerate digitalisation.”

Gill Baker, Director of Smart Field Connections at E.ON said:

“At E.ON, we’re committed to delivering solutions that will help make energy more sustainable and more affordable. Smart meters are the foundation of a cleaner, better energy system, enabling people to transform their energy use while improving our national energy infrastructure for a new energy world, and millions of our customers are already benefiting from the clarity smart meters bring. We’re delighted to have fitted the 30 millionth smart meter and are equally proud to have fitted more than five million others before this one and are pleased to be part of this exciting milestone for Great Britain’s energy system.”