The government is keen to persuade everyone to have a smart meter in place of their conventional meter. The marketing is all focused on the possible energy savings and control over their energy use by using the data a smart meter will display. However, there are privacy and security concerns that are not been publicised by the government or the energy companies.
Smart meters record the total electricity consumption of a particular house. This is effectively an aggregated representation of all the different electrical appliances in the home.
Through your smart meter your power company (and government) can track things like how many people are typically home at certain times of the day and your family’s sleeping and eating schedules. They even know when a home is vacant, who has high-priced appliances, and who has a security system. With smart meters, utilities typically collect thousands of times more data than required to calculate a monthly bill and thus expose residents to unnecessary risks.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center created this shocking list of possible dangers of smart meter data landing in the wrong hands:
“Identity theft, determine personal behaviour patterns, determine specific appliance used, performing real time surveillance’s, targeted home invasions, decisions and actions based upon inaccurate data, profiling, unwanted publicity and embarrassment, tracking behaviours of renters.”
German researchers Dario Carluccio and Stephan Brinkhaus said “Unfortunately, smart meters are able to become surveillance devices that monitor the behaviour of the customers leading to unprecedented invasions of consumer privacy,”.
Energy law expert Chris Martin of Pinsent Masons said “The data can reveal much about a household, such as the make and model of their TV, the times during which a house is occupied and the number of people staying in a household. This information is useful to energy suppliers, but it is also potentially valuable to a whole host of other organisations too,”.
Data Breaches
Smart energy meters collect and transmit detailed information about your energy usage, which could be valuable to cybercriminals. If a hacker gains access to your meter, they could steal your personal information, such as your name, address, and energy consumption patterns. They would know when the house was vacant and the best time to gain access to your home.
Hacking
Hackers could gain access to your smart energy meter and manipulate the data it collects, which could lead to inaccurate readings and higher bills. They could also use the meter as a gateway to the consumer’s home network, enabling them to gain access to other devices connected to your network. An attacker who takes over the control facility or who takes over the meters directly could create widespread blackouts; a software bug could do the same.
Data Gathering and Theft
Smart energy meters use wireless communication to send data, which can be intercepted by unauthorized individuals, leading to the theft of sensitive information and system harm. Strong security measures are crucial to protect against data breaches and maintain privacy.
Privacy Protection Solutions
Numerous researchers have expressed their belief that existing privacy protection methods are either too expensive, too weak, or lead to an inefficient exchange of information. Another concern with smart energy meters, which are internet-connected and can be accessed remotely, is their vulnerability to hacking and cyberattacks. If an attacker gains access to a smart meter, they could tamper with the meter’s readings or disrupt the energy flow in the grid. This could result in serious safety risks, as well as financial losses for both utilities and consumers.
Chris Oakley is vice president of technical services at the cybersecurity firm Nettitude. He says,” Occasionally, smart meters have a glitch, resulting in customers receiving erroneous bills. These issues usually get sorted out quickly, but it demonstrates that these meters are vulnerable”.
There have also been concerns that smart meters used to monitor gas supply could fail over the next few years as many are fitted with batteries that run out after about a decade. Unless batteries are replaced by an engineer, the smart meter could stop working, potentially shutting off the supply of gas.
Data Harvesting
In October 2022, the UK government confirmed that it would be using data from smart meters to get better insights into the rollout of the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) scheme. However, experts suggest that this process could result in a breach of confidentiality and privacy.
Shadow Energy Minister Alan Whitehead said: “This proposal is an outrageous piece of private data-plundering and goes against every assurance put in place concerning the privacy of data generated from smart meter use”. “It needs to be stopped immediately. There are many other ways to check on possible fraud in obtaining EPG refunds.”
Nick Hunn, Founder of consultancy firm WiFore, commented: “Customers were promised their smart meter data would only ever be shared with their supplier. For the government to go back on this without a consultation sets a dangerous precedent.”
As a Privacy Advocate I’m continually asked by concerned people whether currently smart meters are safe, and would I recommend they have one installed. From my years of research, it is still apparent that there are many privacy and security concerns with smart meters for me to recommend having one installed.
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