Smart meters slammed!

The government's plans to install 53 million new smart meters in 30 million homes and businesses in the next seven years has been likened to "building a space shuttle to pop to the shops", according to one company involved in the process.

Hans Kristiansen is chief executive officer of Orsis, a Harrogate-based company that has already installed over 5,000 smart meter solution installations in the UK and counts several schools, local authorites and government departments among its clients.

He said: "Following the government's 'Reponse to Prospectus Consultation', which was published last Wednesday (March 30), it's clear that the planned technical specifications for the smart meter system, if approved, are too complex and complicated.

"This will result in unnecessary costs and, given the government's poor track record in implementing large scale technology projects, will cause unnecessary delays too.”

Hans continued: "Every householder uses tools and appliances in their homes that have an unnecessarily high level of technical or functional complexity built into them, whether its their washing machine or PC. This results in extra cost; and increases the probability of failure. Worse still, given the speed at which technology innovates, much of this is redundant after a short time.

"The government is in danger of repeating this mistake with smart meters and we are in danger of building a space shuttle to pop to the shops.

"We believe that it would be preferable to use a ‘back-office’ approach such as that used in the mobile phone industry because the technology is already available, is less costly to install and has a reduced risk of failure. Crucially, this will give the industry a better chance of meeting the government's declared installation target of 2019.” 

 

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