Tasmania reaches 70% smart meter milestone

Tasmania’s energy minister Nick Duigan has reported that 70% of residential and business customers now have a smart meter.

This is in line with the state government target of 100% rollout to homes and businesses by the end of 2026 and well in advance of the national target of 2030.

Moreover, one in three homes – approximately 80,000 customers – are using state utility Aurora Energy’s aurora+ digital channel, which enables them to track their usage and energy spend and seek efficiencies on smartphones and PCs.

“We’re excited that more than 80,000 Tasmanians are now taking advantage of aurora+ but we want more to benefit from it. The cheapest kilowatt of energy is the one you don’t use,” said Aurora Energy CEO Nigel Clark.

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“Being able to see how and when you’re using energy is powerful as it provides the proof to help change habits around the home to bring down energy usage.”

Aurora+ customers also can access other benefits, such as ‘Power Hours’, which delivers value directly back to them in the form of free electricity.

In the first event of what is planned to become an ongoing feature, 36,000 customers participated and were able to use unlimited electricity, free of charge in an available time slot of their choice.

Minister Duigan said the uptake of aurora+ and the rollout of smart meters has been very pleasing.

“Our government is delivering on its commitment for Tasmanians to have the lowest power prices, and with products like aurora+, they can save even more on their energy bills.”

Aurora Energy is delivering the rollout with the local metering provider TasMetering, part of the Intellihub group.

TasMetering was set up to provide both metering and data services through a long-term agreement with Aurora Energy.