EDF Energy pays £350,000 after missing smart meter targets
Press release
- Publication date
- Company
- EDF Energy Limited
- Industry sector
- Supply and Retail Market
EDF Energy is to pay out £350,000 after the supplier missed its target to install smart meters for its customers last year (2017).
Under the Government’s smart meter roll-out programme, suppliers are required by law to take all reasonable steps to roll-out smart meters to all homes and small businesses by the end of 2020.
To work towards this, suppliers set individual annual targets for smart meters to be installed for their customers, against which Ofgem monitors compliance.
EDF Energy failed to meet its annual installations target for 2017. It met its target for last year in January this year, less than one month after the deadline.
The supplier has since submitted targets for this year (2018) and plans for meeting them.
EDF Energy has also agreed to pay £350,000 into Ofgem’s consumer redress fund administered by the Energy Savings Trust, which supports consumers in vulnerable situations and the development of innovative products or services not currently available to energy consumers.
Due to these steps Ofgem has decided not to take formal enforcement action against the supplier.
As of March 2018, 11 million smart meters have been installed by all suppliers in households in total.
Ofgem is closely monitoring suppliers’ approach to the roll-out of smart meters and will hold suppliers to account if they do not meet their obligations.
Last month Ofgem published its annual summary on suppliers’ overall progress against their targets and reminded suppliers that their customer communications to offer installations must be transparent and accurate.
While we encourage testing of different approaches to engagement, suppliers must consider whether the approach is appropriate for the customer and adapt it based on customer feedback.
Notes to editors
- Larger energy suppliers (those with more than 250,000 customers) must set annual targets for the proportion of their customers that will have smart meters by the end of each year. These targets are commercially confidential.
- For more information about Ofgem’s voluntary redress fund, see: Ofgem appoints Energy Saving Trust to distribute payments from rule-breaking energy companies to charities
- Smart meters help households control their energy use and save money. They mean that households will no longer have to take meter readings or be landed with bills based on estimated readings.
- For more on the smart meter programme, see our website.
Further information
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