alternative s c e rstatementonsmartmetersforsmall（选择c e rstatementonsmartmetersforsmall）.docVIP

SCER statement on smart meters for small customers: future directions 8 June 2012 Purpose The Standing Council on Energy and Resources (SCER) considers that smart meters, related technology and the products and services they support will be an important part of the transformation of the energy sector over the coming decade. SCER is responsible for implementing the Ministerial Council on Energy (MCE) commitment to “review, by mid-2012, the costs and benefits of further smart meter roll-outs or the need for further analysis”. This statement sets the direction for the continued deployment of smart metering to implement relevant Council of Australian Government (COAG) and MCE decisions, recognising the changes that have occurred in the national and international context since those decisions were made. SCER is also responsible for delivering a national framework for the deployment and use of smart meters. This statement further develops SCER’s agreement in December 2011 to continue developing a framework that can be applied to all likely deployment scenarios. Policy context Consumers are facing significant increases in electricity prices. Household electricity prices have risen by over 40% nationally in the past 3 years. A major driver of rising electricity prices is the significant investment required for new and ageing network infrastructure to meet rising demand, particularly at peak times, and to ensure reliability of supply. This rising peak demand for electricity is largely caused by growing use of appliances such as air-conditioners. But the increasing peak demand is not evenly spread, and the non-peak customers are cross-subsidising high-peak-demand customers. At this stage it is not easy to allocate the full cost of peak consumption to the high-peak-demand consumers because electricity prices are generally ‘flat prices’ based upon the average usage of all customers, know as the net system load profile, thereby providing poor incentives to use electricity bette