1.5 million smart meters installed in households as part of a nationwide rollout will lose their smart functionality if home-owners decide to switch energy supplier. The whole point of the meters is that consumers are better informed about energy use and thus better equipped to switch to a better deal..

Unbelievably, the government did not require energy suppliers, who are obliged to install smart meters in their customers homes, to make their smart meters compatible with their competitors. To ‘fix’ the problem, DECC has commissioned, at great expense, a centralised communications network that will ‘decode’ the smart meter data from each supplier. It could be years before the government’s system is up and running…

Techno understands that during conception of the smart meter project, a senior civil servant rejected the idea of implementing an open standard for smart meter data that would have avoided this problem and saved the tax-payer millions. They couldn’t believe that an open standard could be implemented for free and plumbed for the vastly more expensive option…

The cryptography used in one of the most widely used smart meter standards is leaving millions of homes vulnerable to cyber attack. Boffins at the University of Passau in Germany have demonstrated that The European Telecommunications Standards Institute’s ‘Open Smart Grid Protocol’, is deeply flawed and can easily be comprised.

The worrying security flaw has come to light as pressure is mounting on the new government to abandon Ed Miliband’s £11bn Smart Meter Program. It is particularly concerning given DECC’s lack of control of the smart meter data, following their refusal to implement a data standard. Is there a more worthy candidate for Osborne’s newly sharpened axe?

Amber Rudd, the new Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change believes limiting global warming to under 2°C  is “one of the most important things we’re ever going to do,” but also believes fracking is part of the solution.

Rudd, who was has been promoted from Under-Secretary of State for Climate Change made clear last week that she plans to push ahead with windmills, marine energy and Ed Miliband’s insane plan to install a smart meter in every home. Her appointment has been heralded as a “hopeful sign” by Greenpeace…

Fortunately, she is a little more sound on the the the issue of shale, hinting that the ban on fracking in national parks might not be “practical” and calling shale gas exploration “a positive thing to have in the UK”.

Gaia gives her her a tentative 5/10.

Smart Meters fitted to peoples homes exploded across Sacramento this week following a power surge. The meters, which spy on energy consumption are similar to the ones that the government is planning on fitting at ruinous expense to every home in Britain.

It’s unclear why the smart meters exploded, but Techno has never heard of a good old fashioned analog meter blowing up. Will the government roll back its £11 billion plan to plant a potential smart bomb in every house?

It’s becoming increasingly clear that the government’s smart meter agenda is on track be the biggest IT money drain yet. Techno Guido is just scratching the surface, but bundles of money is being spent on ‘Smart Energy GB’, the organisation set up to peddle the scheme.

Smart Energy GB has been under pressure to explain exactly where the £1,224,084 it has put aside this year for “Digital Activity” is being spent, but after exhaustive research TG thinks he has got to the bottom of things. It appears their lavishly funded digital activity department have managed to register THREE twitter accounts:

 Bung them another million and they might start tweeting from them…