Ofgem's smart metering Guaranteed Standards of Performance, known as GSOPs 1 to 3, have been in place since 23 February 20261. The standards cover installation appointments, failed installations and the initial assessment of reported problems, and require suppliers to meet specific service standards and pay automatic compensation to consumers when they fail to do so1.
The regulator set out its intention to bring these standards in straightaway in its Final Decision Document in January 20261. Ofgem published its Final Decision on 30 January 2026, which also contains further detail on the other proposals being taken forward1. The GSOPs followed Ofgem's statutory consultation of 8 August 2025, itself a response to its earlier consultation of 28 March 2025 on the same subject1.
The wider policy framework around the rollout is set out in the government's response to its Smart Metering Policy Framework post 2025 consultation, published by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero1. That consultation closed on 3 October 2025 and drew 64 responses from consumer groups, delivery partners, energy suppliers, members of the public and trade bodies1.
"These GSOPs have been in place since 23 February 2026."
The same document confirms that the existing Targets Framework for domestic meters, under which suppliers were set annual installation targets from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2025, concluded at the end of 20251. It is to be replaced by an obligation on suppliers to take all reasonable steps to install smart meters in all remaining domestic premises by the end of 20301. Annual milestones for new installations and pre-emptive replacements become binding, without tolerances, from January 20271.
Separately, the document states that in 2026 the Data Communications Company will launch a Virtual WAN service so that, with consumer consent, broadband can be used to connect homes without WAN coverage to the national communications network for smart metering1. A consultation on proposals to drive new smart meter installations in the non-domestic sector closed on 16 January 20261.
Why it matters for households
The GSOPs give a household a defined route to automatic compensation when a supplier misses an appointment, fails to complete an installation, or does not properly assess a reported problem in the first instance. That shifts the practical risk of poor service away from the household and onto the supplier, and it applies to the smart meter rules and supplier obligations that sit behind the Ofgem framework.
For a home's energy independence, the standards matter because a meter that is not working in smart mode, or an installation that repeatedly fails, leaves a household without automatic readings, without near-real time consumption data and without the ability to use time-of-day tariffs. The government's response cites sustained savings for consumers using smart meters and in-home displays of 3% for electricity and 2.2% for gas credit1. It also states that smart meters allow consumers to access the Demand Flexibility Service and optional smart tariffs, with savings for electric vehicle customers of up to £900 per year1.
The 90-day requirement for suppliers to return meters in traditional mode to smart mode, and the pre-emptive replacement duty ahead of the 2G and 3G switch-off by the end of 2033, both bear on whether a meter keeps communicating1. The smart meter guaranteed standards set the timescales within which faults must be addressed.
What happens next
Annual milestones for new installations and pre-emptive replacements become binding, without tolerances, from January 20271. Suppliers will be required to submit annual deployment plans to Ofgem, and the period in which Ofgem may reject a plan is reduced from 40 days to 28 days1. The DCC's Virtual WAN service is due to launch in 20261. The government's response document was updated on 10 March 20261.