3.2.3 Monitoring technologies Smart meters Smart meters are one of the monitoring technologies with the most immediate potential for improvements to network visibility bringing benefits to both customers and network operators. They can facilitate increased flexibility of tariff options by allowing implementation of cost-reflective pricing that better reflects the value of electricity supplied, when it is supplied, and reward consumers for changing their consumption. Smart meters provide customers with: • More granular information and price signals to enable them to actively manage their energy profile. • Different tariff structures which provide the opportunity to implement more cost reflective pricing. • Access to new products and services e.g., live data monitoring, and load management. • Better services from retailers and network providers. At the same time, network operators can use data from smart meters to improve visibility of their networks. Without smart meter data, network providers today rely on manually obtained data to plan the network, which leads to inefficient outcomes and ultimately higher costs to customers. Indeed, limited access to real-time data obliges network providers to take more conservative approaches, which in turn, reduces the hosting capacity of the network, and consequently customers likely experience significantly more solar constraints than necessary. A review conducted by Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) in December 2020 concluded that the penetration of smart meters has increased in the past 2 years, reaching 1.04 million (17.4% penetration) in all states excluding Victoria. The total number of smart meters installed in each state is illustrated in figure 1. NSW has highest number of smart meters installed; on the other hand, Tasmania has the highest penetration reaching 20%.
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