“The great meter reader swap: Power customers have to convert”

The compulsory switch to smart meter readers will lead to higher costs and threats to the privacy of power customers “without holding any observable advantages up to now,” Kathrin Emse writes on shz.de. “Smart grids help grid operators” by allowing them to allocate transmission capacities more efficiently, Emse writes. For this to be made possible, about 50 million meters have to be swapped across Germany by 2032, she explains. But smart meters that now become mandatory for customers consuming more than 6,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year “will allow grid operators to have detailed insight into consumption patterns of individual households,” Emse writes. Consumer protection organisations claim this “forced digitalisation” will bring customers about 100 euros in additional costs per year “without yielding any benefits,” she writes.

Read the article in German here.

For background, read the CLEW dossier New technologies for the Energiewende.