Millions of UK households warned smart meter could be 'snooping' on them

Millions of UK households warned smart meter could be 'snooping' on them
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Net zero campaigners claim smart meters could be used to snoop on households. A privacy row has broken out over government proposals to allow energy companies to harvest household smart meter data as part of a net zero push.

Ministers are consulting on plans to allow household energy usage to be shared with third parties who could steer them to cheaper deals, as well as lower carbon tariffs from rival suppliers, according to the Telegraph newspaper in the UK.

Neil Record, a former Bank of England economist who is now chairman of Net Zero Watch, told the Telegraph: “Energy companies get a tremendous amount of data from you, and the public should be very wary of increasingly having their household information provided to external agents.”

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He added the proposals “represent an intrusion which once authorised, will provide information about your household, and the public do not realise how extensive that will be”. Nick Hunn, founder of the wireless technology consulting firm, WiFore, told the Telegraph: “In many ways, this is what was envisioned at the beginning (of the smart meter rollout) that consumers would have visibility of their energy data so they could make reasoned decisions about their usage and how much they pay.”

A government spokesman said: “The call for evidence seeks to understand if a smart data scheme for the energy sector is needed, and if so, how it could ensure consumer protection and support business innovation – delivering customers products and services they want and need.

“Customer data would only ever be shared with the customer’s consent and any data sharing would be protected by stringent security and privacy measures.” Energy minister, Michael Shanks, said: “Data and digitalisation will be an essential foundation of our mission to deliver a zero-carbon electricity system by 2030. Reforms will help consumers and businesses to benefit from the new era of clean power.”