| THE St Vincent de Paul Society in Australia contends introducing smart metering for electricity, combined with other potential energy policy shifts, will add ″hundreds of dollars to Australian energy bills″ every year. The society's findings from its report, 'New Meters, New Protections: A National Report on Customer Protections and Smart Meters', launched at Parliament House yesterday, resulted through tracking and reporting the impact of smart meter installation on disadvantaged Australians in 2009. ″The energy market is undergoing unprecedented change with the privatisation of the energy sector and the removal of price protections,″ Vinnies' national chief executive, John Falzon (pictured) said. ″The most immediate and profound change for consumers, though, is the roll out of smart meters, under a Council of Australian Governments agreement dating from 2007, backed by the Ministerial Council on Energy in June 2008. ″Smart meters are a new technology that allows industry participants to introduce time of use tariffs, making electricity more expensive when total demand is high and less expensive when demand is low.The aim is to encourage households to shift or reduce consumption at times of high demand.″ The Society's work shows three factors will increase the likelihood of financial disadvantage from time of use pricing: Households with low electricity consumption; dual fuel households; and households with people at home during the day. ″When it comes to disadvantaged Australians, unless there is significant attention from State Governments, smart meters will prove to be poor policy,″ Mr Falzon said. |
