SSE Energy Services missed its target to install gas and electricity smart meters for customers in 2019.
Ovo Energy, which acquired SSE Energy Services in January 2020, will voluntarily pay £1.2 million to Ofgem’s consumer redress fund for SSE Energy Services’ historic issue.
Under the Government’s smart metering implementation programme, suppliers are required by their licence to take all reasonable steps to roll-out smart meters to all homes and small businesses by mid-2021.
In June, in light of COVID-19, the government announced that the current roll-out obligation will be extended until 30 June 2021 and that a new obligation to roll out smart meters will commence on 1 July 2021, which will see the roll-out continue until mid-2025.
To work towards this, suppliers set individual annual targets for smart meter installations and Ofgem monitors performance against these targets.
Between 2016 and 2019, larger energy suppliers (those with more than 250,000 customers) had to set annual targets for the proportion of their customers that would have smart meters by the end of each year.
These targets are commercially confidential.
SSE Energy Services failed to meet its smart meter installation target for 2019, before it was acquired by Ovo Energy in 2020.
Due to the voluntary payment to their consumer redress fund, Ofgem has decided not to take formal enforcement action.
An Ofgem spokesperson commented: “Ofgem is closely monitoring suppliers’ approaches to the roll-out of smart meters and will use its discretion to hold suppliers to account if they do not meet their obligations.”
