Thirteen years of DCC: infrastructure that delivers

Some contracts deliver a service: others leave behind something bigger

Those numbers give a sense of the scale, but the real achievement is what sits behind them: making something incredibly complex work reliably for millions of people every day.

For the person using it, that complexity is invisible: a smart meter simply helps them understand their energy use and keep their bills under control. But behind that experience are millions of devices connecting securely and reliably, alongside energy suppliers, network operators and other authorised organisations interacting with the system. That only works if security is built in from the start, which is why the network’s design was developed alongside the National Cyber Security Centre, part of GCHQ.

Over time, we’ve also been able to do more with the network. Since 2022, DCC has operated the Central Switching Service, helping consumers switch energy supplier more reliably and efficiently within 24 hours. By late September 2026, around 52.5 million active switches had taken place through the service. In addition, smart meters connected to the network have helped save approximately 1.5 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions over the past year.

Helping keep homes warm

The network has helped Britain manage energy demand more flexibly, enabling the Energy System Operator to run its Demand Flexibility Service during the winters of 2022/23 and 2023/24. In 2023/24 alone, that reduced energy use by 3.7 GWh, enough electricity to power 12 million homes for an hour.

DCC has also been working with the wider energy industry and Ofgem to enable controlled access to anonymised smart meter data. This is helping organisations such as charities and local authorities strengthen programmes tackling fuel poverty.

There’s a key lesson in all of this: build infrastructure properly and you can keep getting more from it as needs change.

Why the job is never finished

Nothing stays modern for long, creating an interesting challenge when running infrastructure people depend on every day. You can’t pause the service for reinvention when it needs to continue operating. 

The migration of around 13.7 million first-generation smart meters onto the DCC network is a good example: more than 4.17 million were dormant meters that regained smart functionality through the programme, restoring interoperability across suppliers and avoiding costly replacements.

More recently, DCC has been rolling out 4G communications hubs to improve connectivity, resilience, security and coverage. The rollout started in 2025, passed one million connections by May 2026 and exceeded two million by September.

All showing that there’s no point at which infrastructure like this is simply “done”. Technology moves, expectations change and the service has to move with them. That isn’t transformation alongside the day job. It is the day job.

No one does this alone

None of this was delivered by one single organisation: the UK Government, regulators, energy suppliers, network operators, technology providers and many others have all played their part. Capita has been part of that effort since 2013, when Smart DCC Limited was licensed by Government to build and manage the central network for smart metering across Great Britain.

Behind those organisations are thousands of people who’ve solved seemingly impossible problems, adapted as the technology changed and, throughout it all, kept an essential service running.

A legacy we can all be proud of

As Capita’s stewardship comes to an end, I’m proud of the part we’ve played in building it and want to thank everyone within Capita and across the wider DCC community. Thirteen years on, DCC is part of Britain’s national infrastructure, supporting millions of homes and businesses every day, and what we leave behind can continue to evolve and to make a difference.