Are smart meters worth it?
The Government are promoting smart meters as being eco-friendly and good value options. But are they really right, asks Sarah Lonsdale
5:44PM GMT 22 Feb 2012
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If you believe the Government's and energy companies' rubric about smart meters, the first of which are being rolled out this year in a four-million home pilot project, smart meters will save home owners money, and reduce greenhouse gases.
As someone who believes passionately in the need to reduce carbon emissions as well as energy bills, you may have expected me to support such a scheme.
But at the moment, I can't. According to a report on smart meters published by the influential Public Accounts Committee last month, the £11.7 billion scheme could cost every household at least £350 in higher bills to install. Yet in the same report, projected household savings from reduction in fuel usage will be just £23 a year. And that "saving" depends on whether people change their behaviour once the smart meters give them more detailed information about how they are using energy.
So, while energy companies will be getting guaranteed savings of £9 billion from more accurate automated meter readings, our "savings" are not by any means guaranteed. Zoe McLeod of Consumer Focus says people who are already energy savvy and have switched to low-energy appliances and heating, will probably see little benefit.
Already, poorly designed schemes introduced in Australia, California and the Netherlands have provoked mass consumer rejection that has helped no one and wasted money. When the Australian Energy Regulator released figures to show that Australians would see between A$90 (£61) and A$219 (£149) increases in their bills every year between 2011 and 2015 to pay for smart meters there was outrage - particularly as the figures were released on October 31, on the eve of the Melbourne Cup.
British Gas, which aims to have 1.5million meters installed by the end of 2012, has surveyed 700 of its 400,000 customers already supplied with smart meters. Two thirds said they had implemented energy efficiency measures since getting their meters, which is a good thing, but more than a quarter said a year after getting their meters they consulted them less than once a week, meaning that after early interest, the meters cease to be of use to consumers.
The consumers' group Which? has called on the Government to stop and reconsider the smart meter scheme. The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is currently finalising finer details, with decisions to be made in March. But can the DECC guarantee:
My privacy will be protected as part of the legal framework of the scheme? Under current plans, my household energy data will be pulsed electronically to the utility companies every half an hour. If somebody has access to that level of information about my daily habits, anyone can easily discover when I am out of the house.
Mysterious offers to upgrade my inefficient fridge or washing machine don't suddenly arrive as utility companies make commercial use of my data - as has happened in Japan?
If I want to switch supplier, I will easily be able to do so. Jenny Driscoll, energy campaigner for Which? says there is evidence from the early roll-out phase that householders are being told they can't switch supplier because they have a smart meter. "That's absolutely unacceptable," she said.
The "smart" system that will convey the data will not be vulnerable to hackers. "There is a real threat of cyber attack on the smart communication system," warns the Public Accounts Committee report.
The current £11.7 billion bill for smart meters, shouldered by consumers, will not spiral out of control, with the public being required to write a blank cheque. "We would like to see a mechanism to cap customers' bills if costs to the smart meter system spiral," says Zoe McLeod of Consumer Focus.
Complaints from early adopters of the smart meters are made public. At present, although we know complaints about the system have been registered with OfGem, the data can't be published. If we are being asked to foot a nearly £12 billion bill surely we should be told where the problems with the system lie, so at least we can be alert to them?
Until all these points are met satisfactorily by those pushing smart meters on us, my front door will be firmly closed to the meter man, or maid.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/9099149/Are-smart-meters-worth-it.html
