"We don't like this technology. Not because it won't save energy ... but because it will have a negative impact on the comfort, health and wellbeing of New Zealanders."

That's what we said in our address to a recent smart metering conference. But we're not sure the electricity industry is listening.

Smart meters are being rolled out in various parts of the country by power companies using different metering systems.

That means if you have a meter installed by one company and decide to switch to a different power company that second company has to have an agreement with the first to obtain your meter readings. If it doesn't, it will need to rip out the meter and install its own one. That's crazy and inefficient.

Economists say that for a market to work properly price signals must flow smoothly from producers to consumers. That way, consumers will consume more in times of plenty when prices are low and less in times of shortage when prices are high. In New Zealand that means cheap power during summer - and expensive power on cold winter evenings.

That's undesirable for many people. While it's good to reward those who can be flexible in their power use, many households can't be; they'll have to cut back on heating when prices are high to save power. And our houses are already too cold and damp.

We say

• We want to see safeguards so that consumers can change retailers at will (without requiring meters to be replaced) and to require every electricity retailer to offer at least one 24-hour fixed tariff plan.

More from consumer.org.nz

• Smart electricity meters - our full report

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