ScottishPower has paid out over £1.6m in penalties whilst amongst six that were adjudged to have not met targets for the installation of smart meters.
The energy regulator Ofgem said Glasgow-based ScottishPower was among six that fell short of the target for 2022 by more than a million smart meters – the first of the Government’s four-year plan launched in January 2022.
SSE Energy Services, Ovo, Bulb, E.On, and British Gas which trades as Scottish Gas north of the border, have also received penalties which will go into Ofgem’s Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Fund (EIVRF) which is used primarily to help vulnerable consumers.
ScottishPower was hit with a £1.24m penalty, while Perth-based SSE received a £252,000 'fine'.
Scottish Power agreed to pay a further £440,000 into the EIVRF in relation to its smart metering obligations for 2019.
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British Gas is paying out the most a £3.4 million, followed by Ovo at £2.4 million and Bulb, which was bought out of administration by Octopus in December 2022, at £1.8 million.
Smart meters are expected to cut a total of £250-a-year on average from dual-fuel bills between 2013 and 2034, according to government figures. These savings will come mainly from energy suppliers receiving fewer customer enquiries and making fewer home visits, and, in principle, should pass on these savings to customers.
The Government set the industry annual minimum goals to roll out smart meters, as they are seen as being an important part of reducing energy usage and switching to a more flexible energy system.
Smart meters allow households to track energy usage and access smarter tariffs that can save money by encouraging energy use outside peak times or when there is an excess of clean electricity available.
In the summer of 2022, of the half million Scots customers on prepayment meters, some 203,484 were on smart meters and 294,459 are traditional meters.
Ofgem said that as a result of suppliers agreeing to make voluntary payments by way of Alternative Action, Ofgem has decided not to conduct a full investigation into the reasons for the shortfall against the targets.
The regulator said a number of suppliers provided information on the "mitigating factors" that impacted their ability to meet their annual targets.
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Cathryn Scott, director of enforcement and emerging issues at Ofgem, said: “The installation of smart meters is a vital step in the modernisation of our energy system and the path to net zero by 2050.
“Smart meters give customers better information about their energy usage helping them budget and control their costs.”
Ofgem said as a result of the agreed payouts, it will not conduct a further probe into the reasons for the missed targets.
As of June this year, Ofgem said more than 33 million smart meters have now been installed in British homes and small businesses, representing 58% of all meters across the UK.
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