Energy News

Smart meters will not be ’obligatory‘ says minister

Thursday 2 February, 2012

By Martin Fagan

Government confirms that it cannot force people to have a smart energy meter, raising concerns about national roll-out.

Concerns about radiation and privacy have forced the government to concede that it cannot force households into having an energy smart meter installed.

Speaking in parliament, energy minister Charles Hendry admitted the government would “not make them obligatory,” and this was later confirmed by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

The DECC says it is responding to concerns about the smart meters themselves, which emit electromagnetic radiation at levels similar to mobile phones, microwaves and Wi-Fi hubs.

In the USA and Canada, the fear of smart meters producing radiation has seen energy companies hit with multi-million dollar class action lawsuits from people who have had the devices installed in their homes and now claim to be ill from radiation sickness.

The other issue is that civil liberties organisations say the information transmitted by the meter to the energy company is a breach of privacy laws as they reveal potentially compromising details about a person's living habits. The information collected by the smart meter and transferred to the energy company every 30 minutes could give clues to a person’s lifestyle, such when they’re on holiday, at work or asleep.

Privacy campaigners say this is too intrusive and that there is no legal framework for protecting consumer privacy as part of the smart meter roll-out. The DECC said the nationwide roll-out of smart meters is being reviewed to avoid the programme getting “bogged down” in lengthy legal disputes.

“It is welcome that the government has clarified that customers have a choice over whether they have a smart meter or not,” said Zoe McLeod, energy expert at Consumer Focus.

“Smart meters have big potential benefits, such as helping customers to cut their energy use and ending estimated bills. But there are also potential concerns which must be addressed.

“It is important that customers with concerns should be able to choose to have a smart meter and access the benefits that come with it, but have options to control what data they share. Consumers will also need to know if they will have to pay more to have a traditional meter as is the case in other countries.”

Also the claim smart meters will save consumers money was challenged by a committee of MPs who’s report said there was no evidence or a “transparent mechanism” for ensuring any savings made by the supplier from smart meter installation will be passed on to consumers.

At present the roll-out of 53 million smart meters by 2019 is expected to cost upwards of £11billion. Energy suppliers are currently responsible for installing the meters and the cost of installation will be passed on to consumers in the shape of higher energy bills.

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