domestic smart metering
So long as there remains deep uncertainty amongst large energy consumers about the benefits of
making an investment in new metering technology, providers like Siemens have to play a waiting game.
That view confirms the evidence gathered by SMS regulatory specialist Martin Pollock did
The Informed Executive within the public sec- not agree, pointing to the greater accuracy of
tor, where ‘energy’ and ‘carbon reduction’ are billing information that even the most rudi-
seen as totally different subjects, and the re- mentary smart meter could provide.
sponsibility of two different management teams. “Inaccurate billing accounts for over 60% of
If the intelligent metering of energy amongst all complaints and has attracted interest of
CRC participants leads to a reduction in con- Consumer Focus (the organisation which in-
sumption, then there are funds to allocate to corporates the former Energy Watch).
other tasks, assuming that the aim is not just “One of the objectives of the strategy has to
to cut total costs. be to deliver accurate information to consum-
The energy reduction which leads to the cost ers about their energy consumption. It will
reduction brings with it a lowering of CO
2
emis- enable users to receive twelve statements a
sions, so the objective is achieved whether or year rather than four as at present, and provide
not the CRC energy budget holders see it as much higher quality of information on each of
important. them. We take the view that it will manage
There is an unfortunate fallacy in that argu- consumer expectation better, and reduce ten-
ment. Buying electricity at times of the day sion in the relationship between the vendor
when prices are lowest has the effect of reduc- and the consumer.”
ing cost, but unless the volume of electricity
itself is reduced, there can be little prospect of
reducing CO
Government to reduce uncertainty?
2
. The case remains one of reduc-
ing CO
2
directly and benefiting from the finan- So long as there remains deep uncertainty
cial savings rather than the other way round. amongst large consumers of energy about the
benefits of making an investment in new me-
Domestic smart metering
tering technology across their organisations,
providers like Siemens have to play a waiting
At the opposite end of the scale to the CRC game.
participants, the government has made a com- While the government’s policies and the
mitment to ‘smart metering’ every domestic timing of any announcements which would
supply. put the position beyond doubt cannot be in-
If the target of 2012/2013 is to prove at all fluenced by the commercial needs of vendors,
feasible, there has to be a decision very soon there is a strong case for DECC to respond to
on what is expected of the technology to be users’ concerns and resolve the remaining un-
installed. Manufacturers need that lead time certainties: the Siemens of this world cannot
to design and develop appropriate solutions. be expected to second-guess what is required
Andrew Gore again: “The key there is appro- of them but are ready and willing to deliver. §
priate. We are faced with the dilemma of
whether to go ahead and work on an interim
design where the specification could be over-
kill for what is finally established as the require-
ment. This is clearly a commercial concern for
all of the manufacturers.”
If the case can be made for corporate con-
sumers of energy to have their electricity and
gas monitored and analysed minute-by-
minute, the smart metering that the govern-
ment is planning for the residential user is
surely a more difficult proposition to justify.
The Informed Executive
33
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