By Chris Welby, Good Energy’s Commercial Director

Finally, the government has made a decision.  All domestic customers will have smart meters by 2020.  But is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Well, the government has actually yet to define what a smart meter is. So depending on that definition, it could be:

Good or bad for customers: 
• More Accurate bills! Good! 
• Supplier can disconnect you remotely. Bad!

Good or bad for the environment:
• If customers get information to make a difference. Good!
• If badly implemented to work against microgeneration of electricity and heat. Bad!

Good or bad for Good Energy:
• If we have control over the meters our customers get. Good! 
• If we just write cheques to the Big Six to use their meters. Bad!

Good Energy needs to campaign for:

1. What we and our customers want.
2. If we can’t have what we want, what we can work with.
3. If we can’t have these two, what we cannot work with.