Consumers don't understand Smart Meters
Consumer don't understand Smart Meters and
the government is doing a poor job of educating customers to the
benefits of Smart Meters.
Many energy industry experts see smart meters as a crucial building
block to helping customers not only understand how much energy they
use, but also why they use it, and how to reduce their overall
consumption.
A new web-based smart metering system developed by
CSIRO is one clear way to help support the delivery of information
and data to consumers.
With the current annual cost to support a new smart meter estimated
to be around $70-80 per meter, and the estimated annual saving
benefit to be around $1300 for a typical small business, there is
some real merit in taking smart metering seriously
The big question is how to get the usage data delivered to
customers in an easy to use format, and then get the customers to
engage in the data. In Europe and the US, Google's
Powermeter is making significant strides in helping utilities
deliver this data straight into the consumers home, without the need for
expensive 'home monitoring' gadgets.
Tim Wolfenden, CEO of Make
It Cheaper comments: "Smart Meters hold some real value,
and it's quite clear that that money saving benefit will far out
weigh the cost, it's just that the Australian government is doing a
poor job at getting this message across to the end user.
What the energy industry needs to focus on is the efficient and
effective roll-out of smart meters, then plug the data in to
complimenary technologies such as Google's Powermeter."
If this is done properly, businesses really stand to save an awful
lot of money"