This week, New Zealand’s environmental agency warned that smart meters being rolled out by the nation’s utilities aren’t smart enough. The problem? The smart meters do a great job of communication with the utilities, but they don’t talk to consumers’ home devices. “Without HAN capability, the benefits from smart meters almost entirely accrue to the retailer,” Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Jan Wright told 3News. “Consumers will end up paying for meters that provide them with minimal benefits.”

Earlier this year, I posed the question, “Will consumers win with the smart grid?” and pointed to some evidence that most of the so-called smart grid initiatives undertaken by utilities were designed more to help energy suppliers than consumers. Three months later, there’s been a noticeable shift in the market to address this very issue.

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