[SSM note: In 2007, the consultancy firm Mott MacDonald performed an appraisal of the costs and benefits of Smart Metering in the UK for BERR – and concluded that it will deliver a £4bn loss. This piece of data has been ignored by those pushing for this programme to happen.]
Nearly half of European United countries have decided against a large scale rollout of smart meters, calculating that the new technology can be poor value for money.
Digital smart meters are a big innovation over present analogue versions, allowing grid operators and utilities to view power consumption at the household level, but they also involve a significant upfront cost.
EU member states were supposed to replace at least 80% of all electricity meter with “smart” versions by 2020, provided that they found smart meters saved money in the long run, under the Energy Efficiency Directive.
Only 16 out of 28 countries in the bloc found a conclusive net benefit, however, according to a new report from the European Commission.
The European Commission painted an upbeat view of the rollout proceeding in those countries, but acknowledged the set back.
“The business case for rolling out smart metering is not yet overwhelming throughout Europe,” the Commission said, in its report, “Benchmarking smart metering deployment in the EU-27””.
Read more: Smart meters are poor value, find 10 EU countries.
I will repeat what I have said in the past,a lot of people in this country are going to make a lot of money out of smart meters,manufacturing,distribution and fitting them,so a “little thing” like 16 out of 28 countries isn’t going to change their mind.
Stop smart metres for the sake of all living things