Good standards for smart meters

Abstract

This paper examines what lessons can be learned from the rollout of smart meters in the Netherlands to improve the European smart meter standardization. This study is based on the case of the Dutch meter rollout which preparations started in 2005 but finally was delayed until 2011 by governmental concerns about privacy infringements. The focus of our study lies on how the public interests were represented in this case and how these were taken into account during the standardization process. From this case it becomes clear how technological and commercial interests dominated the process while public interests such as the production of renewable energy were ignored. Many privacy aspects that caused the delay in the Dutch case might be repeated on a European level as well, as these aspects are part of EU approach too. This situation can harm the progress in the smart meter rollout, as well as invoking public rejection of the smart meter, since public concerns are ignored in the architecture of the meter. In this paper we will show that these issues can be dealt with by applying existing EU principles of good governance. In particular these principles are intended to ensure a proportional balancing of interests between stakeholders.