Smart Meter Rules and Supplier Obligations

Smart meters in the UK are not governed by a single act of parliament. The rules sit inside the licences that every gas and electricity supplier must hold to operate, enforced by Ofgem, and are being reshaped by a post-2025 policy framework that replaces the old installation quotas with annual deployment plans and a 2030 completion deadline¹. Suppliers, not households, carry the legal duties: they must offer and install meters, keep them working, and from the new framework, take all reasonable steps to return any meter that drops out of smart mode within 90 days³.

The headline numbers: more than 37 million smart meters are installed in over 22 million homes and small businesses across Britain⁵, and as of the end of March 2025 there were 39 million smart and advanced meters in domestic and non-domestic premises, over two-thirds of all meters⁶. The rollout has been government policy since 2011, when suppliers were first required to take meters to their customers⁶. Installation is free for the customer⁷, and no household is legally obliged to have one⁸.

Who bears the statutory responsibility

The obligation to roll out smart meters does not fall on the householder. It is written into the supply licence conditions that Ofgem issues and enforces. Ofgem's licence guide for smart metering is described as "a thematic guide to help stakeholders navigate and understand the rules relating to smart and advanced metering"², and its wider guide to metering, billing and payments points readers to that smart metering licence guide for the detail of the rules³. In practice this means a supplier's duties, from offering an installation to maintaining the equipment, are licence conditions, and a breach is a regulatory matter for Ofgem rather than a dispute between a household and a fitter.

Parliament has added to this framework over time. The Smart Meters Act 2018 (Commencement) Regulations 2024, made under section 14(3) of the Smart Meters Act 2018, brought sections 11 to 13 of that Act into force on 30 April 2024¹¹. Those regulations extend to England and Wales and Scotland, which marks the territorial boundary of the GB framework and is returned to below¹¹.

The government has been the driving force throughout. Smart metering implementation has been government policy since 2011, when the government first required energy suppliers to take meters to consumers⁶. The current round of change comes through the Smart Metering Policy Framework post-2025 consultation, issued on 8 August 2025 and closed on 3 October 2025, which states that implementing its proposals "will require amendments to conditions in the Standard Licence Conditions for Gas and Electricity respectively"⁴. So the legal architecture stays the same, licence conditions enforced by Ofgem, while the specific duties inside it are amended from time to time.

Installation goals: 2020 start and the 2030 target

The original ambition was sweeping and, in the event, missed. The government's commitment was to roll out 53 million smart meters by the end of 2020¹², and the rollout was framed as meaning "all households and businesses will be offered a smart meter by end of 2020"¹³. By June 2020, 21.5 million smart and advanced meters were in homes and small businesses across Great Britain¹⁴, well short of the target.

The Public Accounts Committee was blunt about the shortfall, noting that "only 57% of all meters in Great Britain were smart at March 2023, over a decade after the rollout began"¹⁵. Earlier figures show the same trajectory: as of March 2021 there were 24.2 million smart meters in homes and small businesses in Great Britain, representing 44% of all meters¹⁶. More recently, more than 37 million smart meters are installed in over 22 million homes and small businesses across Britain⁵, and a 2026 parliamentary briefing reports smart meters are now installed in half of UK properties¹⁷.

The forward-looking target has moved to 2030. The post-2025 consultation proposes that suppliers complete the smart meter rollout by installing smart meters in all remaining domestic premises by the end of 2030⁹. It also sets a longer-term equipment deadline: communications hubs using 2G or 3G, and associated metering devices, will need replacement with 4G-capable devices by the end of 2033, ahead of the 2G and 3G network switch-off⁹. For a household, the practical reading is that the offer of a smart meter remains live through the decade, and that older meters will be proactively replaced as their communications networks retire.

Yearly rollout plans take over from yearly fitting caps

Between 1 January 2022 and 31 December 2025, energy suppliers were required to meet binding annual targets for installing smart and advanced meters under the Smart Meter Rollout Framework¹⁸. That four-year obligation has now concluded, which Ofgem describes as marking "transition to a new phase in smart meter programme"¹⁹.

The new phase swaps quotas for planning and reporting. The government is proposing a requirement for energy suppliers to submit annual deployment plans and progress against those plans to the regulator, Ofgem⁴. Each plan sets out the activities the supplier will undertake to meet its domestic installation, operational and replacement obligations⁹. The consultation also proposes extending the Data Request powers to five years after 31 December 2030, so that Ofgem can keep asking suppliers for rollout information well past the deadline itself⁴.

For a household waiting for an offer, the change matters in one respect: there is no longer a fixed annual percentage each supplier must hit, so the pace of offers depends on each supplier's published plan and its reported progress. The consultation closed on 3 October 2025 and has concluded, with the government considering all responses before publishing its response⁴.

Staying in smart mode: the 90 day rule

Installation is only half the obligation. A meter that has been fitted but has stopped communicating is, in regulatory language, operating in traditional mode rather than smart mode, and the post-2025 framework attaches a hard deadline to putting that right. Suppliers must take all reasonable steps to ensure smart meters in traditional mode are back working in smart mode no later than 90 days from the date the supplier first becomes aware⁹. The Clean Flexibility Roadmap puts the same duty plainly: suppliers must "ensure meters are back working in smart mode as soon as possible and no later than 90 days"¹⁰.

Ofgem has consulted on turning that duty into a compensable Guaranteed Standard. Its minded-to position is to implement the standard from April 2026, with compensation starting from July 2026 onwards if that approach proceeds²⁰. The trigger is a consumer's smart meter not operating in smart mode for over 90 days due to an issue within the energy supplier's control to resolve²⁰. The detail is carefully drawn:

• Day 1 is the day after the last expected automatic meter reading; for historic non-communicating meters, the day of implementation counts as day 1²⁰.
• The 90 days was consulted on as calendar days, but the proposed drafting in the Statutory Instrument will be in working days²⁰.
• An extra 30 days is allowed where the supplier raises a comms hub or wide area network incident with the DCC²⁰.
• Repeat payments are proposed for every six months the meter continues not to operate in smart mode, counted from the date the supplier failed the original standard²⁰.
• Exemptions include where the consumer has requested no communication, where no appropriate technical solution is available, and where the consumer's own role in booking appointments or interacting with the meter is the obstacle²⁰.

The standard is proposed to apply to both gas and electricity SMETS1 and SMETS2 meters, including unenrolled SMETS1 meters, with no specific gas exemptions but a technical eligibility exemption, and in-home displays are excluded²⁰. Ofgem's final decision on the Guaranteed Standards notes a drafting point raised by respondents: the legal text references the Electricity and Gas Acts, which could inadvertently include advanced metering, and respondents asked for the definition to be updated to clarify the standards apply only to SMETS meters²¹. Ofgem intends to review the outcomes of the Guaranteed Standards in the first quarter of 2027.

Behind the rule sits a real problem. Ofgem has run compliance engagement with Great Britain's six largest suppliers to review in greater detail why some smart meters are not operating in smart mode and how this may be addressed²², and the Data Communications Company, which runs the network the meters use, has a programme of work to support customers affected by non-communicating smart meters⁵. Ofgem's own position is that "the vast majority of smart meters in Great Britain are operating in smart mode"²², so the standard is a backstop for the minority, not a description of the typical meter.

Price, permission and opting out

None of the supplier duties translates into an obligation on the household. Getting a smart meter installed is free for UK energy customers⁷, and a meter is not something a household is required to have by law⁸. The government's published guidance on rights and expectations sets out what a household can ask of its supplier across the offer, the installation and the aftermath¹.

Where things go wrong, or a household cannot afford its bills, there are routes independent of the supplier. Citizens Advice offers information and support on struggling to pay bills, problems with a supplier or supply, saving energy at home and getting a better energy deal²³. In England and Wales, Citizens Advice can be reached on 0808 223 1133, with a Welsh language line on 0808 223 1144, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm²⁴; in England there is also a dedicated number, 0808 144 8844²³. General consumer protection rights are set out on the government's consumer protection pages²⁴.

The consent position is worth stating clearly because it is the question most households actually ask. The regulatory machinery in this page, the licence conditions, the deployment plans, the 90 day standard, is directed at suppliers. A household that declines a smart meter is not breaching any of it, and the offer can be taken up later, within the rollout window that now runs to the end of 2030⁹.

Rules on information, protection and equipment

The regulations also cover what the meter does after it is installed. Readings travel across a dedicated smart network rather than the household's own broadband: nearly 18 million homes, more than 29 million meters and 75 million devices connect to Britain's smart meter network²⁵. The Data Communications Company publishes its approach to protecting data on that network, and the national campaign behind the rollout, Smart Energy GB, is described as "the not-for-profit campaign helping everyone in Britain understand the importance of smart meters and their benefits to people and the environment"²⁶.

On the technical side, the rules are specific about which equipment is covered. The Guaranteed Standards consultation defines their scope by meter type, applying to SMETS1 and SMETS2 meters and excluding in-home displays²⁰, and the final decision records the request to clarify that advanced metering is not caught by the standards' legal references²¹. The pre-emptive replacement obligation is also part of the framework: suppliers must take all reasonable steps to pre-emptively replace smart metering assets so they continue to communicate when WAN services end⁹, which is what ties the equipment rules to the 2033 2G and 3G switch-off deadline.

For a household, the data rules mean the meter's communications are a regulated, closed system rather than an open internet connection. The trade-off is set out on the page about smart meter data and the page on smart meter security, and households wanting their own direct feed can read about consumer access devices.

Devolved limits: where regulation ends

The GB framework has a precise territorial edge. The Smart Meters Act 2018 (Commencement) Regulations 2024 "extend to England and Wales and Scotland"¹¹, and the post-2025 consultation applies to England, Scotland and Wales⁹. The rollout statistics that track progress, published quarterly, cover Great Britain⁶, and Ofgem's performance statistics cover suppliers with over 150,000 customers in England, Scotland and Wales²².

Northern Ireland sits outside this framework. Its metering arrangements are separate, so the licence conditions, the deployment plans and the 90 day standard described here do not apply there; households in Northern Ireland should check the arrangements that do. The page on smart meters in Northern Ireland covers that position.

Within Great Britain, the rules are uniform but the context is not. Scotland's fuel poverty research records the same national offer, that all households and businesses would be offered a smart meter by the end of 2020¹³, and the pages on smart meters in Scotland and smart meters in Wales cover the nations' own positions. Consumer helplines differ too: Citizens Advice's remit covers England and Wales²⁴, so Scottish households use different routes.

How the rules help, and fail to help, energy self sufficiency

The official case for the framework is about information and control. The government's own framing is that "the smart metering roll-out in Great Britain creates a new platform for innovation" and will increase the level of detail and accuracy of energy consumption data and tariff information in domestic, microbusiness and SME sectors²⁷. The Data Communications Company makes the household-level claim: "The data provided by your smart meter puts you in control of your energy usage, meaning you can take energy-saving steps" to reduce your CO2 emissions²⁸.

What the regulations genuinely deliver is a floor under the household's experience: a free installation⁷, a supplier obliged to offer one through the decade⁹, a 90 day limit on leaving a meter dumb¹⁰, and, from mid-2026 if Ofgem proceeds, compensation when that limit is missed²⁰. That floor is real, and it is enforceable through the regulator rather than through goodwill.

What they do not do is make a home independent. A smart meter is a measurement and communication device, and the whole framework presumes a continuing relationship with a supplier and with the grid: the meter reports to the supplier, the tariff comes from the supplier, and the communications network is run centrally by the DCC²⁵. The meter itself uses no household broadband, but it does depend on that national network, and the 2033 equipment replacement deadline is a reminder that the communications layer has a life cycle managed by others⁹. A household that wants its energy data under its own control, held locally and not routed through a supplier's systems, needs to go beyond the meter, for example with the local data access options described elsewhere on this site. The regulations give the household a better-informed place inside the system; leaving the system's dependencies behind is a separate project.