Opposition political parties in Parliament appear to be joining to try to force the Government to make an early decision on mandatory standards for the use of "smart meters" in New Zealand homes.
Green MP Jeanette Fitzsimons told the Otago Daily Times she was drafting a Private Member's Bill she hoped would be drawn on Thursday.
The Bill called for Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee to require the Electricity Commission to report back to him on smart meters within a month, rather than waiting for the December deadline already in place.
Ms Fitzsimons wants Mr Brownlee to make a decision by December on having mandatory standards introduced which would ensure the electricity meters would "talk" to each other.
Voluntary guidelines in place were not being followed.
Different companies were using different technology.
If customers changed power suppliers, there was no guarantee they would receive any benefits.
"We will have 800,000 of these meters in houses in three years.
"There is no point in acting after the horse has bolted.
"The minister should tell the Electricity Commission to report within a month," she said.
The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment this week released the Smart electricity meters report, which included recommendations to ensure electricity retailers made the benefits of smart electricity meter technology available to consumers.
Ms Fitzsimons was concerned the meters were being installed in homes without the computer chip which made them "smart".
Power companies could use smart meters to switch appliances on and off in a home to help manage peak load, similar to ripple control for hot water heaters.
The "dumb meters" being installed had no benefits for consumers, but plenty of benefits for power companies, she said.
Those meters gave the power companies the ability to read meters remotely, monitor electricity consumption for a household and provide valuable marketing data which would be available to sell, and disconnect late payers remotely.
Power companies could also control electricity consumption to ensure households were paying premium rates at peak times, helping profitability, she said.
Labour energy spokesman Charles Chauvel said the Government needed to set standards for smart meters so they could live up to their name.
"In order for consumers to get maximum benefit from smart metering, retailers need to keep installed smart meters truly smart.
"Smart meters need to be able to deliver two-way communication via a reliable network so that they can work for the benefit of consumers, as well as retailers."
There was an opportunity for the Government to put in place rules for smart meters that helped consumers manage their power use and power bills, he said.
Contact Energy Jonathan Hill said the energy generator and retailer had been disappointed by the negative comment surrounding the installation of the meters.
Contact's smart meters were designed to be future-proofed and would be upgraded to talk to appliances when smart appliances were available in New Zealand.
The company had installed 42,000 of the meters in Christchurch but had none in Dunedin and no immediate plans for installation of the meters in this region.
Within 12 months, Contact planned to have another 80,000 meters installed but no decision had yet been made on where they would be placed.
Mr Brownlee said he saw merit in smart meters being fully enabled with chips but he wanted to be convinced there were no immediate negative pricing implications for consumers.
Types of meters
• Smart metersContain a chip which allows the meters to "talk" to smart appliances such as dishwashers, freezers and clothes driers.
• Electricity retailers can control those appliances in a household to manage peak load.
• Non-essential appliances could be turned off for 15min in waves across a supply area, similar to electricity suppliers in California turning off air conditioners for short periods during the height of summer.
• Allow households to manage their power supply by having a read-out installed, with energy consumption and cost displayed.
Dumb meters
• Do not contain the computer chip, but still allow electricity retailers to monitor household electricity use and collect marketing data that could be sold to a third party.
• Can be read remotely and connected or disconnected remotely.
