Britain's smart meter programme: A case study in privacy by design

Abstract

Following requirements in the 1996 EU Energy Efficiency Directive, member states are developing programmes to encourage the installation of ‘smart’ power meters that record much larger quantities of data about power usage than traditional meters. These data can reveal a great deal of information about individual household activity, leading privacy regulators to call for privacy to be ‘designed in’ to these systems. The British smart metering programme has given some attention to this privacy by design process. This article assesses its effectiveness in this case, using documentary analysis, participant observation, and follow-up interviews with a range of stakeholders. It finds that decisions made early in the British programme had negative privacy impacts that have only been partially remedied by the later development of detailed rules on the processing of smart meter data by energy suppliers and distributors. The article also considers broader lessons for the privacy by design approach.

Keywords:

• data protection
• technology regulation
• energy efficiency

Acknowledgements

This research has been supported by the European Commission (FP7 Grant Agreement 288021) and the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (grant EP/G070687/1). The author thanks the interviewees who generously shared their time and expertise to illuminate several key aspects of the processes described in this article.

Notes

1. Directive 2006/32/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of the European Union of 5 April 2006 on energy end-use efficiency and energy services and repealing Council Directive 93/76/EEC. OJ L 114, 27.4.2006, 64.

2. Directive 2012/27/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on energy efficiency, amending Directives 2009/125/EC and 2010/30/EU and repealing Directives 2004/8/EC and 2006/32/EC. OJ L 315, 14.11.2012, 1.

3. Directive 2009/72/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity and repealing Directive 2003/54/EC. OJ L 211, 14.08.2009, 91.

4. Directive 2009/73/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 concerning common rules for the internal market in natural gas and repealing Directive 2003/55/EC. OJ L 211, 14.08.2009, 134.

5. See Cuijpers and Koops (2013).

6. Article 6 of Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, 31.

7. Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (General Data Protection Regulation). COM(2012) 11 final, 25.1.2012.

8. Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, 31.

9. Article 29 Data Protection Working Party, Opinion 12/2011 on smart metering.

10. Article 29 Data Protection Working Party, Opinion 12/2011 on smart metering, 8.

11. Article 29 Data Protection Working Party, Opinion 12/2011 on smart metering, 14.

12. European Data Protection Supervisor, Opinion on the Commission Recommendation on preparations for the roll-out of smart metering systems, 11.

13. See Cuijpers and Koops (2013, 27).

14. Ibid.

15. Henney and Anderson (2012, 1-2).

16. Cuijpers and Koops (2013, 5).

17. Cavoukian, Polonetsky and Wolf (2010); Spiekermann and Cranor (2009).

18. Cuijpers and Koops (2013, 22-23).

19. Cavoukian, Polonetsky and Wolf (2010, 13-14).

20. Article 29 Data Protection Working Party, Opinion 12/2011 on smart metering, 14.

21. Cuijpers and Koops (2013).

22. Rial and Danezis (2011).

23. Kursawe, Danezis and Kohlweiss (2011).

24. Rubenstein and Good (2012).

25. MacDonald (2007, 52).

26. Department of Energy and Climate Change (2009, 22).

27. Brown (2012).

28. Civil society expert interview, 2012.

29. Department of Energy and Climate Change (2010, 1).

30. Department of Energy and Climate Change (2011a, 4-5).

31. Department of Energy and Climate Change (2012a).

32. Ofgem (2012).

33. Department of Energy and Climate Change (2012b).

34. Department of Energy and Climate Change (2012c).

35. Department of Energy and Climate Change (2012b).

36. Pallas (2012, 14).

37. Anderson et al. (2009).

38. European Data Protection Supervisor (2012, 9).

39. Ofgem (2012).

40. Cuijpers and Koops (2013).

41. Anderson (2010, 4).