Standard content for Members only
To continue reading this article, please login to your Utility Week account, Start 14 day trial or Become a member.
If your organisation already has a corporate membership and you haven’t activated it simply follow the register link below. Check here.
The smart meter programme is being shunted down the government's priority list, the Ofgem chief executive has warned.
Speaking at the Intellect Smart Energy Programme lunch in London on Wednesday, Alistair Buchanan said the government’s primary focus is on the Green Deal, superseding the smart meter rollout.
“It [smart metering] is not at the top of the agenda and it was two or three years ago,” said Buchanan. “The smart meter project itself is going a little bit slower than we perhaps anticipated.”
He added: “Quite clearly at the moment the government is focussing on the Green Deal.” Simplifying tariffs, boosting liquidity in the wholesale market and ensuring sufficient power generation capacity are also higher up the agenda than smart meters, he said.
Discussing how a cap on energy tariffs and smart meters would interact, Buchanan said he would be disappointed “if we didn’t see some quite interesting innovations” calming concerns the limit would stifle innovative tariffs.
Buchanan also warned that the government “is taking far reaching powers” in the Energy Bill, adding “it’s going to be very difficult to challenge the government if it decides to use those powers”.
Please login or Register to leave a comment.