Watchdog calls for smarter use of electricity meters

Parliament's environmental watchdog, Jan Wright, today urged MPs to call in representatives of electricity retailers and lines companies and probe their plans to install "dumb" smart meters.

Dr Wright has called on the Government to be proactive with regulations and standard-setting because most of the 1.3 million new meters to be installed by 2012 will actually be "dumb" - good for electricity company profits but little help in saving electricity or costs for householders.

The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Wright, told a select committee that electricity companies were deploying "smart" meters that were potentially capable of monitoring a household's electricity consumption, controlling appliances, and feeding information not only to the retailer but to the householder.

But because they were avoiding spending just a few dollars to put an appropriate computer chip in them, the meters could later cost householders hundreds of dollars each to retrofit.

And in the meantime, consumers were missing out on a real-time display of their electricity consumption and cost which overseas experience had shown could trigger energy savings of 5 percent at peak times.

Asked by MPs if retailers were not keen on technology that would enable customers to reduce their spending, Dr Wright provided a list of people at energy companies whom she suggested could answer the question.

She said meters set up to run "home area networks" could make a 5 percent saving in household consumption, worth $125m, and up to 10 percent reduction in peak demand, saving another $100m.

But to get full potential from the technology, the Government needed to require companies to met a common standard - just as importers of electrical goods have to provide three-pin plugs and safe appliances running at the right voltage.

At the minimum, the computer chips involved needed to meet to "open access" protocols so that different manufacturers appliances could communicate. Victoria was requiring a specific computer chip which was likely to be also required in other states.

Dr Wright questioned why electricity retailers were hurrying to install "dumb" smart meters - which would benefit the retailers - when a commonsense approach would offer considerable environmental benefits, and consumer savings.

Key benefits would include lower demand for the highest-cost electricity at peak times, and less pressure for bigger and better networks of pylons.