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MELBOURNE – Victorian State Government auditor-general John Doyle has filed a scathing report on the bungled introduction of electricity smart meters across the State, which he says has seen 2.67 million users forced to shell out big bucks for the meters – but who have so far not seen any real benefits.The rollout was effectively complete by mid last year,
but so far only 86 percent of sites were being remotely read due to issues with
technology and communications failures, he said in a report to the State
Parliament.
Only 20 percent of expected benefits from the program are currently being
achieved, his report said. And he predicted consumers would probably need to
fork over more than the previously forecast $319 million to complete
the smart meter rollout and connection program.
“Worryingly, the Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and
Resources does not have a good understanding of the cost of the program,”
Doyle says in his report. “I do not agree with the department’s views that
it should not report publicly on costs . nor do I accept the department’s
assertion that the costs incurred to date do not warrant monitoring and
reporting.”
He said the claimed costs savings “do not represent any additional
value generated by the program. Furthermore, the overall costs of the smart
meters program significantly outweigh these savings.”
