Energy Smart Rollout – What’s next for the metering ecosystem?

The latest phase of the UK’s smart meter rollout officially closed in December 2025. As with earlier milestones, it didn’t deliver the outcomes the industry or policymakers hoped for.

What comes next is still being finalised, however the direction of travel is clear. Expectations are tightening, and smart performance is increasingly being treated as critical infrastructure rather than a programme deliverable.

This article sets the context for what’s coming next, the challenges that matter most for suppliers and metering partners, and where there are opportunities to get ahead. We’ll explore each theme in more depth over the coming months.

A tougher framework is taking shape

Proposals point to much stronger obligations on suppliers and their delivery partners, including requirements to:

• Take “all reasonable steps” to reach close to full smart coverage by 2030
• Resolve non-operating smart meters within 90 days of becoming aware of them
• Replace meters before the communications services they rely on are switched off

The onus now sits with suppliers to define, justify and evidence what “all reasonable steps” means in practice for their portfolios, and to demonstrate ongoing progress through binding annual milestones.

The intent is clear, that by 2030, the vast majority of customers shouldn’t just have smart meters installed, but will be able to use and benefit from them. Exactly what “vast majority” means is still to be confirmed. NESO estimates electricity coverage of around 86–90% will be needed by 2030 to unlock the full value of flexibility, while expectations for gas remain less certain.

Where are we now?

The industry has missed multiple smart rollout targets, and full coverage hasn’t been achieved at the end of the latest phase either. It raises the question of whether successive targets have fully accounted for the systemic challenges that continue to constrain progress.

Around 40 million smart meters are now installed, and roughly three quarters of homes and businesses are seeing real benefits, from flexible tariffs to EV optimisation. But persistent issues remain: communications failures, customer disengagement, hard-to-reach locations and declining installation density. At the same time, the need to replace ageing 2G and 3G comms hubs is becoming increasingly urgent, and the value case for gas meters remains modest compared with electricity.

On top of this, upcoming contractual requirements, with the intention to unlock smart adoption in B2B segments, add cost and complexity for suppliers already juggling mixed portfolios. These practical hurdles mean there’s still a lot of ground to cover before we can say the smart rollout has delivered on its promise.

What does this mean for different parts of the market?

Suppliers

For suppliers, the near-term picture is uncertain but increasingly urgent. Expectations are evolving, but the requirement to act is accelerating. Changes to GSOP, obligations to recover smart functionality within defined timeframes, and growing customer frustration where promised functionality isn’t delivered are all forcing the issue.

Smart performance is no longer a background operational concern, but a core commercial and regulatory risk. Suppliers will look to manage their exposure and, in parallel, engage more actively with MOPs, MAPs and DCs to both share risk and capture more of the value they deliver in exchange.

MOPs and MAMs

For MOPs and MAMs, the challenge is managing a highly fragmented environment. Legacy infrastructure, multiple networks and newer technologies all need to be supported in parallel, increasing both complexity and cost.

At the same time, there’s a clear opportunity. Supplier urgency is likely to drive increased demand for metering services, particularly in B2B portfolios where enforcement, portfolio change and smart-conditional contracts are now being driven by regulation rather than choice. Capturing this opportunity will depend on careful workforce planning, realistic volume forecasting and ensuring the right commercial metering expertise is in place.

MAPs

MAPs are continuing their transition away from high volume installation towards long-term asset and lifecycle management. Connectivity, asset health and commercial viability over extended periods are becoming priorities as suppliers look to reduce exposure and maintain compliance.

Data Collectors

Data Collectors face familiar issues, but with rising stakes. Gaps in reads, data quality issues and inconsistent connectivity are becoming more visible and more costly as expectations around smart outcomes increase. Performance that was once tolerated now directly impacts supplier risk and customer experience.

Key pressure points to watch

“All reasonable steps”

The reintroduction of “all reasonable steps” means suppliers must define what’s reasonable for their portfolios, document it and evidence delivery. This raises the question of whether suppliers still the necessary capability in their regulation and compliance teams to assess and decide what’s reasonable.

Crucially, this sits alongside the obligation to resolve non-operating smart meters within 90 days. This isn’t a choice between installing new meters or fixing existing ones. both must happen in parallel. It puts pressure on finite metering resources and forces difficult decisions around capacity, skills and prioritisation.

Connectivity upgrades are overtaking installations

The switch-off of 2G and 3G networks is happening faster than the energy metering ecosystem can respond, and this gap is only likely to widen as telecoms technology continues to advance. Without intervention, the risk is a steady drop-off in connectivity across parts of the installed base, which could undermine the value case for smart meters and erode customer trust. 

All parties will need to work together to limit customer dissatisfaction where connectivity is lost. The impact is greater than ever, as many customers are now experiencing the genuine benefits of smart metering, particularly in electricity.

When smart functionality fails, customers may be moved from smart tariffs onto standard or price-cap rates, increasing bills and quickly driving complaints. As a result, loss of connectivity is no longer a minor technical issue, but one that directly affects customer bills, service experience and supplier cost exposure.

Smarter contracts and tighter dependencies

Smart-conditional contracts aren’t new, but in the B2B market they’re becoming mandated through regulation. Commercial commitments now depend on reliable communications and half-hourly data.

Supplier propositions are increasingly dependent on this functionality, particularly as flexible tariffs, EV products and sustainability-led offerings scale. This raises performance expectations for metering and data partners, with greater risk of penalties being passed through the value chain or, in some cases, contracts being restructured or re-tendered. 

The result is a higher bar for operational discipline across all parties, where connectivity, data quality and issue resolution become critical commercial outcomes rather than background operational concerns.

A tougher regulatory backdrop

Changes to GSOP and proposed reforms to complaints and Ombudsman processes reinforce the same message, that unresolved smart issues now carry greater financial, regulatory and reputational consequences.

For metering partners, this increases dependency on clear accountability, faster issue resolution and stronger collaboration across suppliers, networks and service providers.

Where are the opportunities?

Organisations that invest in better visibility, clearer accountability and more flexible operating models will be better placed to manage risk, support suppliers and capture value as demand grows. Those that can demonstrate reliability, recovery capability and commercial alignment will increasingly differentiate themselves in a more performance-driven market.

In the coming weeks, we’ll explore each of these themes in more detail, focusing on what good looks like in practice and how organisations across the metering ecosystem can get ahead.

If you’d like to discuss any of these topics in more detail, contact Hannah Sword or Matt Turner-Tait.