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Smart meters: can energy suppliers (or hackers) turn off my supply remotely?
By Sam Meadows 19 January 2018 • 11:08am
While it is 'technically possible' for hackers to gain access to your smart meter, the risk is incredibly low Credit: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg News
My energy provider has been offering me a smart meter for some time now.
I fear that if I do accept I will be handing them the power to switch off my supply at the flick of a switch, without warning. I'm also concerned that some other person may be able to shut off my supply for nefarious purposes.
Is this possible?
SB, via email
Smart meters, which are slowly replacing older meters, provide you with an in-house display so you can track your energy use.
They also connect to a wider network, giving energy suppliers your usage information, meaning they do not need to manually read the meter. Those championing the technology say this will lead to the end of estimated billing as suppliers can track your usage in real time.
Of course, as with any internet-based technology, this raises questions of security.
Benjamin Sovacool, a University of Sussex professor studying smart meters, said he understood it was technically possible for your supplier to cut off your supply remotely, but that this would only be used as a last resort. For example, a prepayment meter customer who has fallen into extremely large arrears.
British Gas confirmed that "remote disconnection" is possible but that smart meters grant no additional powers to disconnect than with standard meters. A spokesman for the energy giant said they would never disconnect a customer without an engineer visiting the property.
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British Gas' website states: "For customers in payment difficulties, we will always look for alternatives to disconnection. With smart meters it should be possible for us to help customers having difficulty paying much earlier."
According to industry regulator Ofgem's figures, disconnection is incredibly rare. In 2016, there were 157 for electricity and 53 for gas. British Gas said it hasn't disconnected a residential customer in almost eight years.
Robert Cheesewright, of Smart Energy GB, the body tasked with promoting the rollout, said: "People with smart meters are protected by exactly the same strict regulations that protect anyone with a traditional meter."
On your second point, again, it's technically possible for a third party to gain access to the network and possibly cut off your supply.
While the likelihood of a hacker doing so for malicious reasons remains very low, there have been cases of disgruntled former employees of energy companies hacking the system.
According to media reports in America, a 42-year-old Pennsylvania engineer named Adam Flanagan was sentenced to a year in prison for using expertise gained while employed by a supplier to damage their systems after being fired. The damage meant suppliers were unable to connect to customers' meters.
Mr Cheesewright said the smart meter system had been designed by some of the world's leading cybersecurity experts.
Previously, Dr Ian Levy, a director of the National Cyber Security Centre, said: "Security lies at the heart of the smart metering system and has been a key consideration at every stage of system development to ensure there are no 'loopholes'.
"The system operates on a national scale and has been designed as a secure end-to-end system, not just a collection of meters, energy suppliers and other components that have evolved individually."
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