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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what his Department’s target is for smart meter installations by the end of 2021.

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. The rollout is making good progress, with 24.2 million smart and advanced meters in homes and small business across Great Britain as of end March 2021.

Energy suppliers are currently required by licence conditions to take all reasonable steps to install smart meters in homes and small businesses. The Government has confirmed that a new four-year policy framework with fixed annual installation targets for energy suppliers will commence on 1 January 2022 to drive the consistent, long-term investment needed to achieve market-wide rollout.