Smart meters are due for domestic roll-out by 2018 and 2020 for commercial. The basic premise is that energy isn’t going to get any cheaper in the near future and consumers; domestic and commercial are going to have to manage their energy consumption – why? Because we’re digging the hard stuff [oil, gas and coal] out of the ground and the alternatives are either hugely more expensive or dangerous [e.g. Fukushima]. To enable this to happen successfully requires that the consumer is engaged in the process with the result being that they will be able to see how much, when and at what cost energy is consumed.

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We frequently see suppliers hauled over the coals in the media, albeit usually the domestic market. However, what’s causing much consternation is the fact that despite some legislative changes at the smaller end of the SME ‘Micro Business’ market, the business energy market seems in thrall still to the new energy oligopoly. (see www.torse.co.uk/pirates-energy-companies/ ). It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, an industry with fundamental barriers to entry, big players, weak governance and little legislation has enabled the Energy companies to take a fairly cynical stance towards their markets.
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