Privacy issues have been at the center of the planned roll out of new energy smart meters across the UK but a new Government publication helps move the ambitious project forward.

The UK Government plans to install smart meters in every UK home and a large number of small businesses by 2019, as part of its vision of a low-carbon economy. To achieve this the ambitious plan is to replace the 53 million gas and electricity meters that are currently in place in homes and small businesses.

Initial trials and small smart meter roll outs have already begun but the big push to implement smart meters is planned for 2014 once a number of the outstanding issues are resolved. Energy and Climate Change Minister Baroness Verma said:

“The introduction of smart meters nationwide is of course an enormous challenge, representing a vast upgrade of our energy system, but with huge potential benefits for millions of homes and businesses and for Great Britain as a whole.”

One of the data privacy concerns has been over the implementation of a Data and Communications Company (DCC) framework which acts as a handler between the data that flows from installed smart energy meters in the home and into the energy provider systems. As a result a heavy burden will likely need to be placed upon DCC Licensees to ensure they provide secure mechanisms for data carriages and translation.

The Government response to consultation publication, announced on the 12th December 2012, include a number of wide-ranging areas including:

• giving consumers a choice on how often data is collected
• excluding data collection for marketing purposes (unless explicit consent is given)
• allowing customers to change their minds about the choices made

As part of the smart metering implementation programme the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) have also outlined a Privacy Impact Assessment, as they say “The goal is to ensure that the measures that are implemented minimise privacy impacts and ensure compliance with data protection law.”