achieved their goal, page-4

$2bn 'smart' meters 'may soon be obsolete'
The AGE
Mathew Murphy
April 22, 2008

THE timetable for the Victorian Government's $2 billion roll-out of "smart" electricity meters is "no longer achievable" and the meters could be obsolete soon after being installed, according to the Government's independent steering committee.

The Essential Services Commission has also criticised the Government for not properly considering its plan to install the meters in 2.7 million homes and businesses across Victoria before it promised to do so. BusinessDay has seen a copy of a letter that the steering committee sent to Energy Minister Peter Batchelor last month identifying "a number of serious concerns regarding the Advanced Metering Infrastructure program". In the letter, John Dawkins, the independent chairman, says the wide-scale deployment of the meters and the use of current infrastructure are "significantly more complex, and the impacts more pervasive" than had been envisaged. Mr Dawkins says:

�¡ The Government's timeline for the roll-out, due to be completed in 2012, cannot be met and that further advice needs to be provided on dates that "can be confidently achieved".

�¡ There is a significant risk that the Victorian meters could be "prematurely retired" if the specifications are different from those decided on for the national roll-out now being considered.

�¡ Changes in the National Electricity Market rules needed in Victoria for the roll-out could be delayed until there was a "firm policy commitment" from a majority of jurisdictions in the NEM.

The meters will give consumers regular updates on how much power they are using, how much it is costing, and greenhouse gas emissions generated. The meters will allow retailers to raise prices during periods of high demand, encouraging people to run energy-hungry appliances such as dishwashers and washing machines off-peak.

On Friday, the ESC published a revised timetable for the planning stages of the roll-out. ESC director Andrew Chow said uncertainties about the technology and functioning of the meters would "undoubtedly have an impact on the project and its costs".

"Currently everything is being pushed to the point where these things are not being looked at in the kind of detail that you would expect," he said. "I am raising it because I think there is a risk (to the project's success)."

Opposition energy spokesman Robert Clark said the smart-meter roll-out had the makings of "a debacle to rival the regional fast rail or myki projects".

"There are potentially billions of dollars of cost involved that will be paid one way or another by Victorian electricity consumers," he said. "I think the Government has to reconsider whether it should go ahead with the project, and especially whether handing over a monopoly to the electricity distributors is the way to go."

Mr Batchelor said the Government would push ahead with the plan.

Marco Bogaers, managing director of Metropolis Metering Assets, said his company had already rolled out 500 smart meters in the Brunswick and Northcote areas.