Victorian households have had electricity smart meters for a decade or more now. Has that benefitted anyone? And should the rest of Australia follow suit? What can ordinary Aussies get out of a full national roll-out?
Victoria’s 100 per cent electricity smart meters take-up resulted from a state government mandate. That put the state well ahead of the national curve. Even 10 years later, the national take-up is only 35 per cent. That is a number much smaller than the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) would like. Does it matter? According to the AEMC, yes.
The AEMC says further roll-outs of smart meters across the eastern seaboard will deliver benefits to providers and customers alike. Following a directions paper released two years ago, the commission last week issued a suite of reforms.
These reforms, says the AEMC, include a 100 per cent rollout to households by 2030. This “would provide net benefits to the value of $507 million for national electricity market regions.” That includes NSW, Queensland, the ACT and South Australia.
Business benefits of smart meters
Energy providers and retailers benefit in a number of ways through the use of smart meters. Some of those benefits are obvious. The ability to obtain meter readings remotely, for instance. No need to send out a meter reader. Perhaps not such great news for meter readers, but a saving for the retailer.
On a grander scale, the smart meters open up the possibility of developing software that can remotely control individual appliances. That may sound like something from the realm of Big Brother, but the intentions are good, according to Wes Ballantine. The chief executive of smart meter company Intellihub, says meter connectivity will help with the demand for control features.
It will do so by turning on and off appliances to match periods of rising and falling demand. For example, smart meters can control when the hot water heating is turned on and off, to match periods of demand on the power network.
That may sound somewhat invasive, but Mr Ballantine says customers won’t even know. “As a customer, the main thing you want is that when you get in the shower to have a shower, you have hot water. You don’t really care when that water was heated,” he says.
Less ‘personally’, smart meter technology will allow providers to instantly identify outages, possible supply problems and surge risks.
Customer benefits
Ask a Victorian about how a smart meter has benefited them, and the chances they’ll answer, “I don’t know.” That perhaps indicates that as successful as the mandatory roll-out was, the PR side was less so.
In fact, smart meters can help households manage their electricity consumption down, right down to an appliance level. Energy Victoria’s website says: “You can see your usage in almost real-time using web portals and in-home displays. This means you can have more control over your daily energy use.”
As a Victorian myself, I was not aware of that. With the current cost-of-living pressures and ongoing threat of human-driven climate change, it’s good to know smart meters can help.
It appears that electricity smart meters live up to their name, providing justification for the AEMC’s ambitious 2030 roll-out target. What’s required once smart meters are installed, is that retailers and customers alike actually use them smartly.
Does your house have an electricity smart meter? Have you taken advantage of any of its features? Let us know via the comments section below.
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