Sixteen years ago, on this day, April 13th, 2007, Australian governments said smart-metering was just round the corner,
By April 2007 there was formal agreement by COAG to a national mandated rollout of electricity smart meters to begin by the end of 2008, in locations where an economic case could be made, as summarised in the 13th April 2007 COAG Meeting Communique:
‘‘COAG. . . endorsed a staged approach for the national mandated roll out of electricity smart meters to areas where benefits outweigh costs, as indicated by the results of the cost-benefit analysis which will be completed by the end of 2007.” [COAG (2007): 1]
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 387ppm. As of 2025 it is 427ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The context was everyone in Australia (okay, some people, but a little hyperbole is okay) was running around either actually caring or – more commonly – pretending to care about Saving The World. In late 2006, as if a switch had been flicked, the issue had broken through, and by December even arch-blocker Prime Minister John Howard had been forced into a U-turn. So here we have various government types having to say they’re going to act. And “smart meters” are part of that whole neo-liberal efficiency discourse, that sorta sounds okay until you think how it comes up against Jevons Paradox, techno-failure and the use of technology to surveil populations.
What I think we can learn from this
Policies can be announced. Doesn’t mean they’re gonna get implemented.
What happened next
Fast forward to November 2024-
The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) has announced a final rule requiring smart meters to be deployed across the National Electricity Market (NEM) by 2030.
This reform aims to modernise Australia’s energy system and accelerate the transition to renewable energy.
Smart meters are essential for enabling a connected, efficient energy system and achieving net zero targets.
The reforms include:
- faster smart meter deployment to help households and businesses access savings and energy benefits sooner
- improving network access to important power quality data for better network management, reduced costs and improved safety.
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.
References
(Lovell, 2017:103) Lovell, H. 2017. Mobile policies and policy streams: The case of smart metering policy in Australia. Geoforum, 81, pp.100-108.
Also on this day:
April 13, 1968 – the New Yorker glosses air pollution, mentions carbon dioxide
April 13, 1992 – Denialist tosh – “The origins of the alleged scientific consensus”
April 13, 2011 – GE and others say Gillard is on right track