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The voluntary rollout of smart meters in NSW will provide significant benefits for electricity customers, EnergyAustralia's Group Executive Manager - Retail, Adrian Merrick said today.
"EnergyAustralia welcomes the NSW Government's announcement - it will be electricity customers who will be the winners of a market-led smart meter rollout," Mr Merrick said.
"Deploying the next generation of electricity meters in a competitive and cost-effective manner will provide the greatest benefits to customers.
"A competitive market-led rollout will enable retailers to offer innovative products that will give customers greater control and ability to manage energy consumption.
"We will be investigating the opportunities to provide our customers access to smart meters."
Mr Merrick said EnergyAustralia gained significant insight into consumer behaviour associated with smart meters when it was the retail partner of the Federal Government's Smart Grid, Smart City trial, which was trialled in areas of NSW.
"Through Smart Grid, Smart City, smart meters provided a variety of innovative products to participants, allowing them to make more informed choices about how they used electricity," he said.
Survey of trial participants found that 85 per cent stated they took action to reduce consumption and almost 70 per cent felt their ability to reduce bills had increased as a result of participating in the trial.
"We look forward to the detailed policy development as part of the national framework for competitive metering," Mr Merrick said.