This bill includes the power to make Orders in Council to provide for setting fees to manually read meters, and the recovery of these fees by retailers. These charges are yet to be set, with the AER (Australian Energy Regulator) having final approval. This is expected to occur in November, with manual reading fees due to commence in March 2015.

Not surprisingly, members from both sides of the House wholeheartedly support the continued rollout of smart meters. After all, it was Labor who commenced the rollout, and the Coalition who decided it made sense to continue with the rollout. The bill also had the support of the Greens, in the Legislative Council’s second reading on the 6^th May. As such, debate, in the Legislative Assembly’s second reading of the bill on the 25th June, remained shallow, with both sides appearing to be more intent on scoring political kicks regarding…