Media Releases

Member for Swan Hill, Peter Walsh, has thanked Minister for Consumer Affairs, Michael O’Brien, for his work on the future of the troubled Smart Meter rollout.
“The whole Smart Meter program has been another Labor disaster and the recently presented report on it means that a decision on its future can be made,” Mr Walsh said.
“There have been many conflicting and misleading reports on the program that have totally confused the community as to the merits or otherwise of these units.
“Even now there are still some extremely misleading headlines which seem to be aimed at creating more uncertainty for households,” he said.
The facts are very simple: Under Labor the cost of the Smart Meter program blew out from $800 million to $2.3 billion.
As a result of this, the Coalition Government ordered an extensive review of the program to evaluate its value.
The review found that, because of the amount of money already spent on the rollout, any further delays will only cause costs to rise further.
The expert review also found that Smart Meters are quite safe and will produce benefits to consumers by helping them save money on their power bills.
As all meters are the property of the power distribution companies they can be replaced by the company at any time. Up until now, because of the uncertainty over the Smart Meters, customers were able to request that any changeover to a Smart Meter be held off until a final decision on their future was made.
The distribution companies will now continue with the rollout and replace all meters. However, despite some claims, it is extremely unlikely that anyone will have their power cut off because of a dispute over the Smart Meters. The distribution companies will work with customers who may have concerns.
Certain changes have been introduced to ensure that consumers get the best possible value from their Smart Meters and Government oversight of the program has been improved to ensure consumers and welfare groups have a stronger voice in the rollout process.
“I am relieved that there is now certainty in this program and will monitor the benefits of the Smart Meters to ensure they flow on to households,” Mr Walsh said.