Energy and Poverty
What impact will smart meters have on low-income households?
Investigators:
Faculty of Arts
Current Partners:
The Consumer Utilities Advocacy Centre
St Vincent de Paul Society Victoria
Summary
Over the coming years, smart meters will be progressively rolled out to households across states in Australia. This will facilitate a number of changes to the way in which electricity is priced and sold in Australia, doing away with the need for monthly or quarterly domestic meter readings and the calculation of domestic electricity bills based upon a flat or inclining pricing structure. Instead, smart meters will allow for the remote reading, connection and disconnection of electricity meters and the introduction of new ways of charging households for their electricity use. These include time-of-use tariffs and critical peak pricing structures (where a higher than normal price is charged for brief periods of exceptionally high demand, such as on extremely hot days where air-conditioner use is high).
The goal of these dynamic pricing initiatives is to make residential electricity consumption more responsive to supply shortages and wholesale costs. However, there is a concern that these new pricing mechanisms may disadvantage certain groups of consumers with little ability to adapt to price signals and who are particularly reliant on electricity for their energy needs (for instance low-income households and households with a health related electricity need).
The goal of this project is therefore to evaluate the likely impacts that the introduction of smart meters and the associated pricing innovations will have on low-income and vulnerable households. Through a combination of focus groups and surveys carried out in regional and urban areas of VIC, NSW, QLD, and SA, the project will investigate consumer perceptions, behaviours and cost minimisation strategies in order to make recommendations to protect consumer interests and minimise the adverse financial impact of forthcoming changes to the national electricity market.
For further information contact Michael McGann: mmcgann@unimelb.edu.au (03) 8344 3203
In a related project, our project partner St Vincent de Paul Society Victoria has published two initial reports on the impact that the rollout of smart meters will have on consumers.
Partners Report
SJI's project partner, St Vincent de Paul have recently provided two initial reports on consumer impact on the smart meter rollout. The reports are also available on the St Vincent de Paul Website.