Ministers need to do more to convince homeowners that the UK’s new £11bn smart meter system is safe from hackers, say MPs, who have been warned the devices could be used to sabotage power grids.
Experts from the Royal Academy of Engineering and private technology companies have raised concerns about the meters’ security, according to a report from the Commons science and technology committee.
Nick Hunn, a wireless technology consultant, said he was worried about the risk of “rogue programmers” in metering companies.
“If I were working for one of those companies, I could insert code that would make every meter turn off on a particular date in a year’s time,” he said, adding the inclusion of an isolation switch in every smart meter was “an unnecessary risk”.
“If somebody could hack into that or turn off very large numbers of meters by mistake, the sudden shock of taking them off the grid … would cause significant damage,” he said.
The academy added that “disruption to energy and gas supplies at a massive scale is possible”.
The Commons committee held a private meeting with a representative from GCHQ, Britain’s electronic intelligence agency, after the Financial Times reported in March that the agency had intervened to secure the smart meter system against hackers.
Disruption to energy and gas supplies at a massive scale is possible
MPs were told that layers of security controls had been built into the system to prevent mass disconnection, and special arrangements had been made to vet people with “access to sensitive system components”.
“GCHQ’s involvement in designing the security for the smart metering system gives confidence that security is being taken seriously,” said Tania Mathias, a Conservative MP and the committee’s interim chair.
“But the government will need to do more to convince and reassure customers that the technology is safe from being hacked.”
The committee’s report added: “It would be unfortunate if unwarranted concerns in media reports about smart meter security diminished public trust in the programme.
More than 3.6m smart meters have already been installed in homes and businesses and 53m are due by 2020.
Consumers will foot the bill for the £10.9bn programme through their energy bills, at an average cost of £215 per home, the committee said.
Advocates say the meters’ ability to show people how much energy they are using will encourage consumers to switch off lights or buy more efficient appliances, lowering their bills and cutting greenhouse gas pollution from electricity generation.
Sacha Deshmukh, chief executive of Smart Energy GB, a body supporting the smart meter introduction, described the project as “the biggest behavioural change programme that this country has seen”.
British Gas told the Commons committee that people using 100,000 gas and electricity meters installed since 2014 had cut their energy consumption by around 3 per cent a year compared with customers with conventional meters.
The former energy department has predicted that by 2020, households could make an annual saving on their dual fuel energy bill of £26, rising to £43 in 2030, while non-domestic customers could expect to save £200 a year in 2020.
Ministers also hope the scheme will make it easier to switch energy suppliers and avoid billing problems.
The Institute of Directors business group, another critic of the project, said on Friday the costs would work out to more than £400 per smart meter and few people would willingly pay this.
It urged the government to review “an overly complex scheme for which the benefits are far from clear”.
