The world of Smart Meters…..
Great Britain faces an energy trilemma – the need to reduce carbon emissions, achieve security of supply, and ensure that consumer energy costs do not skyrocket. Part of the Government’s response to this challenge has been to champion the introduction of smart meters to replace traditional gas and electricity meters.
Smart meters offer a wide range of benefits to consumers, the energy industry and the country as a whole. Consumers will be provided with near real time information to help them manage their energy use, save money and reduce emissions. Energy suppliers will be able to forecast demand better, reduce their costs and use smart meters as a platform to develop more innovative services, while our networks will be able to use smart metering data to improve network management and make informed decisions on investment, including the development of smart grids.
The Data and Communications Company (DCC) is responsible for establishing and managing the common infrastructure necessary to support the main roll-out of millions of smart electricity and gas meters. It forms part of the Government’s wider Smart Metering Implementation Programme.
The first step for TGP to be able to enter the market of Smart Meters is to become eligible to use the DCC Systems and pass the SEC User Security Assessment conducted by the User Competent Independent Organisation (User CIO).
Hot of the press!!!! The SEC Panel was held on 25th July 2018 for the User CIO Assessment where by TGP received the outcome ‘Approved’ subject to taking steps – further information is expected on this very positive outcome. This is great news and testament to the efforts from all involved - Cherrelle McLean, Sara Smalley, Richard Humphreys, Ross Easton, Alan Smale, Paul Margetts Philip Kluver, Karla Penter, Emma Beake.
The assessment was held with Deloitte over a 10 day period from 30th April whilst they were on site for 3.5 days. The assessment included the review of 47 SEC Obligations, some of which were in conjunction with our Smart 3rd party Utiligroup covering many operational functions – including IT Security, Compliance, HR, Risk Management & Business Operations.
At point of close call with Deloitte on 11th May, TGP achieved 87% pass rate with 6 observations for remediation.
The final report was issued to TGP on 25th May, with a 3 weeks response period. Key members of the uSMART team attended the SEC Panel on 25th July 2018 for the final review and assessment for approval to be a Smart Supplier.
The USmart project is in full swing as per the timeline above with a planned Go Live schedule of September 2018.
