Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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187. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the current average wait times for installation of a smart meter by ESB Networks. [23187/23]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The National Smart Metering Programme (NSMP) is being coordinated by the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU) with ESB Networks (ESBN) delivering the electricity meter rollout on the ground. I understand that to date, ESBN have installed over 1.3 million smart meters nationally and are completing approximately 10,500 smart meters installations per week.

I also understand the smart meter customer journey starts with an initial letter from ESBN flagging that ESBN’s smart meter deployment partner are in a location and to expect a follow-on letter from ESBN’s deployment partner with additional information.ESBNs deployment partner will then send this second letter approximately four weeks in advance of planned installation date, whilst also inviting the customer to make an appointment if required. If the meter is located indoors then ESBN will proactively contact the customer to arrange a time that suits for the installation to take place.

Overall, ESBN have indicated that the proactive customer journey to replacement and installation of the new meter is on average approximately 12 weeks from first letter to meter install.

Customers who have installed microgeneration such as solar PV will send in an NC6 application form to ESBN.If they do not already have a smart meter, then ESB Networks have 4 months to install a smart meter – this is an agreed Service Level Agreement (SLA) from the interim microgeneration process.