Smart meter £30 missed-appointment compensation
Under the Ofgem Guaranteed Standards of Performance, your energy supplier owes you £30 in automatic compensation if they miss a smart meter installation appointment, cancel it with less than 24 hours' notice, or fail to install on the agreed day. The payment is supposed to be automatic and added to your account within 10 working days. In practice many suppliers fail to apply it without a complaint, and a quick chase is usually enough to get the credit added.
Last updated April 2026
What the standard is
The Ofgem Guaranteed Standards of Performance are a set of minimum service levels that all UK domestic energy suppliers must meet. They include automatic compensation payments when those levels are missed. Smart meter installation is one of the standards, with a £30 payment per failure.
At a glance
- Amount
- £30 per failure
- Where the rule lives
- Ofgem Guaranteed Standards of Performance
- Should pay within
- 10 working days
- Cost to claim
- Free
- Escalation
- Energy Ombudsman (free)
- Stack
- Each missed appointment is a separate £30
When the £30 applies
Three trigger events:
- The supplier misses the appointment entirely: no engineer arrives within the booked window.
- The supplier cancels with less than 24 hours' notice (whether the day before or on the day).
- The supplier arrives but does not complete the install for reasons within their control (wrong equipment, no parts, engineer not qualified for your meter type).
Failures outside the supplier's control (your house was inaccessible, you cancelled, the safety check failed for a genuine reason) do not trigger the standard.
How to claim it
The payment is automatic. Wait 10 working days from the missed appointment. If the £30 has not appeared on your account:
- Log in to your supplier's online account or open the latest bill. Look for a credit line for the missed slot.
- If it is missing, contact the supplier by chat, phone, or their formal complaint route. Cite "Guaranteed Standards of Performance, missed smart meter appointment, £30 automatic compensation".
- Most suppliers credit the account within a week of the chase. Some suppliers also pay the secondary £30 for missing the deadline; ask.
If your supplier refuses
If the supplier refuses to pay or ignores the chase for eight weeks, you can take the case to the Energy Ombudsman. The service is free and the Ombudsman can order the supplier to pay the £30 plus a goodwill credit for the inconvenience. Most cases are decided within six to eight weeks.
You can also report systematic failures to Ofgem. Ofgem does not handle individual disputes but uses complaint volume to enforce against suppliers.
How Untap helps
We do not currently handle smart meter complaints inside the product because the volume is small and the process is short enough to do in five minutes. This guide is here as a reference; the chase is yours.
Questions readers actually ask
- How quickly should the £30 appear?
- Within 10 working days of the missed appointment, automatically credited to your energy account. If you have not seen it after two weeks, the supplier has missed the deadline and you should chase.
- I rebooked the appointment. Do I still get the £30?
- Yes. The £30 is for the missed slot, not for whether you eventually got a meter installed. A rebooking does not waive it.
- My supplier cancelled with two days notice. Does that count?
- Cancellations with at least 24 hours' notice do not trigger the standard. Less than 24 hours and the £30 applies.
- What if the £30 was supposed to be paid but the supplier missed the deadline to pay it?
- Then a second £30 applies. The Guaranteed Standards include a separate £30 for failure to pay an automatic compensation within the deadline. Most suppliers fix it on a chase rather than pay both.
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This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice. Always read the scheme's own rules before sending a claim.