Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the installation of smart meters is mandatory in private residences.

Smart meters are replacing traditional gas and electricity meters in Great Britain as part of an essential infrastructure upgrade to make the energy system more efficient and flexible, enabling the cost-effective delivery of net zero greenhouse gas emissions.

Smart meters also provide households with accurate, near-real time information about energy consumption in pounds and pence via an In-Home Display, so consumers can easily understand how to use less and save money on their bills.

Energy suppliers are required by licence conditions to take all reasonable steps to install smart meters in homes and small businesses. This obligation expires at the end of June 2021 and will be replaced with a new four-year policy framework from 1 July 2021 with fixed annual installation targets for energy suppliers to drive the consistent, long-term investment needed to ensure that everyone can benefit from smart meters.

Smart meters are not mandatory for energy consumers, but the Government wants all homes and small businesses to be able to benefit from the financial savings and greater convenience of digital energy services, and as such smart meters will become the default metering technology used in Great Britain.