SMDA Newsletter – August – September 2020

Dear SMDA Members,

We hope you are staying safe and well.

The SMDA scheme is still open and we remain committed to providing a high-quality service to all our members.

First GSME on the DAR

SMDA is pleased to announce that on the 12th August the first GSME device was awarded Partial Assurance and added to the Device Assurance Register (DAR). Subsequently, the Scheme now has a total of three PPMIDs, one GSME and seven ESME devices registered on the DAR covering both new devices and those upgraded as part of the exemption process.

Full Functionality in the North

Credit and Pre-Payment testing in now available in the North Region. As a result, Full Functionality is now available in both the Central and South and North Regions.

This completes SMDA enabling Partial Assurance within all regions and the Scheme will now be focusing on issuing Full Assurance, whereby assurance is issued with no tolerances.

We would therefore like to encourage manufacturers to submit devices for testing. Please contact the Test House on smda@nmi.nl to request a quote.

5 Terminal Device Testing

As part of the Schemes commitment to ensure that testing is aligned with the industry, the Scheme has been working towards providing testing for Variant Devices. As part of this, 5 terminal devices can now be submitted for testing and we would encourage members to contact the Test House via email (smda@nmi.nl) to submit their 5 terminal devices for testing.

Testing Fees

Now that Full Functionality is available for Central and South and North Regions, as well as Release 1, 2 and November 19 Release testing, we have updated the testing fees in SMDA Assurance Fees document available here.

Membership Applications

Following the SMDA Board Meeting on 21st September 2020, the SMDA Board has decided that until the ongoing discussions around the funding of SMDA are concluded, SMDA will no longer be accepting any new members to the Scheme at this time. A conclusion to those discussions is expected within the next few months and whilst SMDA welcomes new applications, they will only be considered at that point. Please contact smdaso@gemserv.com if you have any questions.

SMDA SEC Refinement Consultation

In response to the recommendation made in BEIS’ independent review of device interoperability on change, namely that “Energy Suppliers and the SMDA Board review the SMDA funding model to ensure SMDA can provide long-term test assurance”, a refinement consultation has been released under SEC Draft Proposal DP111 ‘SMDA Budget Amendments’, which can be found  on the SEC website here.

Members are encouraged to respond to the consultation by submitting their responses by email to sec.change@gemserv.com by 5pm Friday 2nd October 2020 with the subject line ‘DP111 SEC/SMDA Refinement Consultation response’. It’s vital that responses are submitted so that the views of SMDA members can be fully considered when determining the Scheme’s future funding model.

Please contact smdaso@gemserv.com if you have any questions on the information provided in this update.

Best Wishes

Kunal Sharma, Head of SMDA Scheme