The government’s plan for every home in England, Wales and Scotland to receive smart meters by 2020 is one of its most audacious to date. Around 29 million homes will be fitted with smart meters over the next nine years. Initial estimates from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) are that smart meters could save around 34 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions over a 20 year period. The inefficient use of energy is a prime culprit in carbon dioxide emission.

The UK government estimates that over £900 million is wasted every year just by leaving appliances on standby. The financial and environmental benefits are therefore plain to see with this roll-out. However, for the organisations responsible for executing it, there are significant challenges ahead.

Let’s look at the numbers, as this puts these challenges into perspective. The majority of upgrade work is due to be kicked off in 2014, leaving six years until the deadline. That equates to upgrading around 5 million homes a year, or roughly 100,000 homes a week or 20,000 homes a day. This is a substantial target, so the meter fitters will have to get each installation completed as efficiently as possible. However, there are obstacles that mean that jobs are aborted and the meter is not installed. This can be anything from the meter  having incorrect pipework through to it being located at height or in a confined space. Industry experience of fitting meters indicates that roughly 20 percent of jobs are aborted and in some instances, it has taken up to five visits to complete the installation.

Considering energy suppliers could face penalties if they fail to meet these targets, consistently aborting jobs really is not an option. If they are going to avoid these penalties and stick to the stringent schedule, they need to ensure they know what to expect when they arrive at a destination. So how can they obtain this visibility and control in order to execute quality installations first time?

Mobile photography is being used in a limited fashion at the moment in the energy industry. A more sophisticated approach to mobile photography can provide substantial benefits if clear robust processes are implemented. For example, a meter reader (note not fitter) can now quickly photograph an existing meter and have it automatically uploaded, with essential contextual information, to a website. This instantly brings visual intelligence back to Head Office, so they can give the fitter the information required to ensure he is equipped with the right tools to install the smart meter on the first visit. It brings a level of control that was previously lacking across the industry and has a significant impact on the level of quality of work. Realistically, there will still be times that a fitter will arrive and encounter an unexpected problem resulting in aborted work. However, using the same approach – taking an image of the meter, complete with the essential information – can determine what needs to be done in order to complete the installation and guarantee that the fitter does not have to visit the same address more than twice.

The benefits of gleaning this level of visual intelligence are plain to see. The installation of a smart meter can take anything from an hour to a day, depending on the condition of the meter being replaced. If 20 percent of jobs are aborted, this means anything from 4,000 to 28,000 man hours could potentially be wasted daily. Such high levels of wastage will naturally have an almighty impact on hitting these targets by 2020, but also will have severe financial ramifications. In austere times, the savings made from maintaining visibility and control and delivering quality can be allocated to other resources to continue to help Britain become a low-carbon economy.

Considering this programme has been implemented by DECC, there are also environmental benefits with this approach. If meter fitters are able to complete the installation first time, it eliminates the need for travelling back and forth from a depot to the location several times, thus reducing their own carbon dioxide emissions.

The roll-out of smart meters across England, Wales and Scotland will undoubtedly benefit consumers. However, a job of this scale, which carries such ambitious targets, is not without its obstacles. Not knowing what to expect and having to continually revisit a destination to complete an installation should not now be one of them. Being able to slash the rate of aborted jobs by having clear visibility of what to expect will avoid many potential problems and keep the energy industry on course to complete this roll-out on time and within budget.