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Smart meters to cost the UK billions: 2G switch-off means replacing 12-13 million
(www.theregister.com)
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this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2026
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Utility meters last for decades. Making them reliant on a cell network that's constantly changing wasn't such a good idea. They should have licensed some low band UHF frequencies and set up their own network. It doesn't take much bandwidth to read some meters.
It would've made sense if the Meters were made modular with a removable antenna/mobile data modules - rather than having to replace loads of perfectly functioning smart meters because the energy companies wanted to save a few bob 20 years ago.
They did that for the second gen meters.
"The first covers newer, second generation (SMETS2) meters, where only the communications module needs swapping out, but even this is likely to cost £1.3 to £1.4 billion (c $1.7 to $1.9 billion) before the hardware cost of each new hub is even factored in.
The other is for an estimated 7 million older, first-generation (SMETS1) meter installations, which have the cellular comms hard-wired in, so the whole meter typically needs replacing. The report authors estimate this will cost another £2.1 billion to £2.45 billion ($2.8 billion to $3.3 billion), at an indicative replacement cost of £300 to £350 per installation."
That would've the smart choice.
They also could've designed all of this to work as a mesh network so they aren't reliant on anyone elses network.
Yes mesh networks have their flaws but they probably only need to check each meter once a month and it's probably just a MAC address and text. So speed and having the device constantly connected isn't necessary.
It was a rush job, as the old analogue meters depended on a signal piggybacking on BBC R4 LW’s broadcast to switch Economy 7 timings. This ran from the Droitwich transmitter that depended on a specific type of valve which ceased production in the 1980s. In the 2000-10s the BBC bought the last 12 unused valves in the world, but couldn’t make longevity guarantees. The smart meters had to be in place before the transmissions stopped. The transmitter shut down in June.
Wait, why are the individual meters wireless at all?
It seems like if you're running a power cable for ~200 A service (Idk what UK standard is, but that's what I used to in US), running a small fiber cable in parallel would be trivial - and I expect the data rates coming from these would make a fiber connection "future proof" in the most literal sense of the word.
Extreme cost is likely the reason, digging up every power line would get expensive very quickly.
Because the power cables have been installed 100 years ago. They are not going to dig them up to run data lines.
Wireless smart meters are in place in other countries as well (Germany for example). However, the wireless module is just a plug in module, changing it out takes about 20 seconds.
Also in place in the US - they just use 433 MHz I believe, and some dude drives around in a truck collecting readings from the road.
In my US town, it transmits to a nearby receiver on a power pole. Same with water. But also in the US buried power cables are the exception.
Oh, missed that this is retrofitting onto old service. I suppose that does make sense (still kinda hate it).
Yeah, sounds Luke theyre making this more complicated than it needs to be.
Here in Italy meters talk over the power line itself, like the PowerLine you use in your house. It even allows (but nobody bothers) to connect a user device by plugging it into an outlet (different networks though)
That would mean digging up existing powerlines into every home though. Making them wireless v8a cellular modem makes them independent enough and avoids depending on WiFi which would place the burden of connectivity on the residents.