Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of enabling the sharing of smart meter data across (a) the energy sector and (b) local and central government.

The smart metering Data Access and Privacy Framework permits proportionate access to energy consumption data from smart meters by authorised parties while safeguarding consumers’ privacy.

As the smart meter rollout progresses, the Government will continue working with industry and consumer groups to assess further potential benefits of sharing smart metering data to address policy challenges, subject to appropriate privacy safeguards. The Framework ensures that consumers have control over who can access their energy consumption data and for what purposes, except where this is required for regulated purposes (for example, billing).