The descriptively named Data Communications Company (DCC), which manages Britain’s national Smart Meter network(s), recently began their first live customer trials that will see existing Smart Meters in UK homes being upgraded to use Toshiba’s new 4G Communication Hub. Several suppliers, such as E.on and British Gas, are taking part.
The development was actually announced just before Christmas, so we’re playing catch-up today. At present, existing Smart Meters (SMETS 1 and SMETS 2) use a mix of wireless network technologies to communicate how much gas and electricity people are using back to a central database – better known as the Smart Metering Wide Area Network (SMWAN).
For example, Scotland and the North of England are largely served by Arqiva’s Long-Range Radio (LRR) wireless network, which operates in part of the 400MHz licensed spectrum band. By comparison, O2’s (Virgin Media) old 2G and / or 3G based mobile network is typically used to cater for meters installed across the rest of England and Wales. The original 15-year O2 smart metering contract, signed 2013, was worth £1.5bn, while Arqiva’s contract for the north was worth £625m.
However, O2 will start switching off 3G services in April 2025, and they aim to complete that by the end of this year (here). But it will then take “several years” after that before their 2G services can be fully withdrawn, which is partly due to the technology’s use inside existing Smart Meters. According to the Public Accounts Committee (here), an estimated 7 million Smart Meters may need to have their 2G/3G modules upgraded to 4G to avoid a huge connectivity problem.
The Solution
Back in August 2023 we reported that DCC had signed a new 15-year agreement for Vodafone to manage Britain’s national Smart Meter network (here), which would also see the operator working alongside Toshiba, Accenture, CGI and Deloitte to upgrade the network with a cost-efficient 4G Communications Hub solution. Vodafone are providing the 4G network and management, with CGI doing the software and Toshiba the Hub itself.
Just to be clear, as other reports often get this part wrong, under DCC’s programme the meters themselves won’t be replaced, it’s just the communications “hub” (i.e. the “router” that connects the meters in the home to the network). This is still a very big job (nationally speaking), and it requires a site visit to pull off, but it’s also a quicker and simpler job than when a Smart Meter is first fully installed.
The good news is that DCC began an upgrade trial of the new 4G Dual Band Communications Hub from Toshiba a few weeks ago. Energy supplier E.on is understood to have carried out one of the first installations in Staffordshire (England) and many more are due to follow. Around 10,000 Hubs will be installed in the “coming months” as part of DCC’s validation process (mostly by the end of Feb 2025), all involving several energy suppliers.
Assuming the trial goes well, DCC said they would then begin rolling out the new Hubs as standard from summer 2025. “Given that 2G/3G networks will be phased out by 2033, that gives us and our partners eight years to ensure connection continuity for around 24 million smart meters – a huge challenge, but one we are confident we will achieve,” said DCC.
Tom Stockwell, Head of Critical National Infrastructure at Vodafone, said:
“We are delighted to collaborate with DCC on this significant milestone. The installation of the first 4G Communication Hubs in UK homes marks a major step forward in future-proofing the smart metering network. We now look forward to working together to support the continued rollout of 4G Smart Hubs to millions more in the future.”
Thomas Cunliffe, COO M2M Solutions Division at Toshiba, said:
“It has been a privilege for Toshiba to design and build the 4G Dual Band Communications Hub for the DCC. We are immensely proud of not only the 4G end-product but also the way the team at Toshiba has collaborated with all the partners within the Programme. Our global supply chain is ready, and we look forward to ramping up production volumes for the mass roll-out next year.”
The 4G upgrade programme however doesn’t just seek to “replicate the old functionality with newer technology” and instead claims to have taken the chance to build something better. “We’ve collaborated … to build these 4G Hubs such that they will deliver direct benefits to energy suppliers and network operators, helping to drive flexibility, and maintain grid balance and stability, and allow deep insight into consumption patterns and network performance,” although it may take a few years to fully realise all that.
However, we should point out that gas Smart Meters also contain a lithium battery, which different sources suggest should last for 10 years or longer, although quite a few people have found them failing far sooner. But you can’t change these yourself, and another engineer visit is required. Suffice to say, there may be some cases where it would be more cost-efficient to combine the 4G upgrade with a battery replacement, yet so far as we can tell that will NOT be happening under the upgrade programme.
One final point to make is that 4G is about as future-proof as 2G and 3G were before it (many people are already on 5G mobile and 6G is just around the corner), thus this won’t be the last time that such a problem emerges. Mind you, all such hardware and systems reach end-of-life eventually.