German authorities certify first smart meter after long delay

The first smart meter in Germany has received a license from the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) two years after the government decided on a large-scale roll-out, Jakob Schlandt writes in energy policy newsletter Tagesspiegel Background. The state secretary in the energy ministry (BMWi), Thomas Bareiß, said at an event held by energy company EnBW that the first device had received a license and that two more devices would follow by early 2019 at the latest. The gradual roll-out was supposed to start in 2017, initially only for large-scale consumers with a power consumption of more than 10,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year. However, Schlandt writes that the initial optimism about smart meters paving the way for the energy transition’s next stage of digitalisation has vanished for many observers as the licensed devices are already technologically outdated.

See the CLEW dossier The digitalisation of the Energiewende for background.