Smart meters are vital, but the next step must be a smart grid

The Guardian, Friday 15 May 2009

Smart meters are an essential ingredient in developing a low-carbon future - encouraging householders to cut energy waste and save on bills (Boxing clever: every UK household may get smart meter for gas and electricity, 12 May). The next critical step is an entire overhaul of the energy generation system.
The centrepiece should be a new smart grid which would use state-of-the-art technology to balance the variable energy generated from renewable sources and intelligently manage our demand for power. This would also enable more of the UK's vast renewable energy potential to be developed by making it easier to plug in to the system, and could encourage more households to turn their homes into mini power stations by fitting solar panels and water and wind turbines.
On top of this the UK must also invest in a new super grid off the British coast to tap into our vast offshore renewable resources - we have the best offshore wind potential in Europe - and stabilise supply and demand by connecting us into a bigger European low-carbon energy network.
Furthermore, Ofgem's remit must be urgently reviewed. Climate change is the biggest threat the planet faces - tackling it should be the top priority of the UK's energy regulator. Andy Atkins Executive director, Friends of the Earth
• Let us hope that the government actually has access to some new customer research on the economic benefits of installing smart meters in every household and that such research supports their proposals. When the electricity supply industry carried out trials with customers some years ago we found that the customer response was too small to justify the expense of the more complicated meters. Those earlier results are available in the library of the Institution of Engineering and Technology.Terence BoleyFormer director, Electricity Council
• It is not surprising that energy corporations that have a huge vested interest in keeping dirty coal power stations running for as long as possible will lobby the government to abandon its plan to force them to shut power stations if carbon capture technology doesn't work (Energy firms call for opt-outs over carbon capture deadline, 12 May).
Where there are loopholes, the energy companies will try to exploit them; and where loopholes are exploited, climate-wrecking carbon emissions are pumped into the atmosphere. That is why Ed Miliband must close down any wriggle room for the coal giants to get out of fitting CCS to coal power stations and shut them down if the technology doesn't work.
Miliband has made good progress on tackling climate change but he must stand firm in the face of corporate lobbying, consign dirty coal to history and press ahead with a renewable energy revolution in the UK. Beverley DuckworthWorld Development Movement