I’m glad to see a new study calling for all Aussie homes to have smart meters installed…..a 100% uptake by the end of the decade in other words.
Smart meters have been around since the day dot but really only in a half hearted way. Smart meters—just to remind you—measure energy usage digitally and allow consumers to see how much power they are using in real time. They replace mechanical meters that are still in many homes.
The Australian Energy Market Commission says if every house had one it would deliver over $500M in benefits to all regions in the national energy market.
It’s about time. We have been tinkering with the electricity grid and the tie up with smarter homes for quite a while, but as the Commission itself pointed out, you can’t have a modern grid—and aim for Net Zero—without smart meters.
Commission head, Anna Collyer, emphasised its benefits at home: “Consumers can make informed choices which in turn open the way to greater retail options that suit their family or business usage patterns.”
It’s two way street though because for utilities, smart meters cut costs of meter reading while making it possible to detect and respond to customer demand & power outages quickly. They can also pair smart meters with other new technologies & pricing incentives to encourage electricity conservation.
It’s just a draft report at this stage and the Commission wants your opinion on how it all should work. It’s also saying it will work with stakeholders to speed up the rollout of smart meters.
We’ll certainly make a submission & hope you do too.
Report detail & feedback: https://www.aemc.gov.au/news-centre/media-releases/metering-review-smarter-energy-future
Cheers, John Fennell
