The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) has published a draft report, detailing 20 recommendations for the acceleration of smart meter deployment in the National Electricity Market.
The AEMC claims that a faster replacement of legacy meters will enable consumers to access the benefits smart meters can provide.
The draft recommendations and options in the Review of the Regulatory Framework for Metering Services report reflect the many stakeholder ideas and suggestions put forward to the Commission in submissions and at the Review’s forums and reference groups.
Energy Networks Australia has welcomed the recommendations, which it said will allow electricity retailers, energy networks and customers to securely access energy use data quickly and accurately to provide better energy services.
Energy Networks Australia CEO, Andrew Dillon, said the current smart meter rules had not delivered for customers and a new approach was needed.
“Smart meters are a key enabler of a smart grid. We can’t run a 21st century grid with 19th century meter technology,” Mr Dillon said.
“Customers with smart meters can take advantage of flexible pricing to tailor their use to when power is cheaper and save on their power bills.
“They also help networks identify, locate and fix faults and outages faster and make connection processes far simpler, which delivers better customer service.”
Mr Dillon said the entire economy was adopting better technologies to aid in the transition to net zero and energy networks were an essential platform to deliver a decarbonised future.
The draft report, Review of the Regulatory Framework for Metering Services, is available in full here. Stakeholder and industry feedback will be accepted until 2 February 2023.
