The EU Data Protection Commissioners grouping called the Article 29 Working Party (the Working Party) has given an opinion on privacy issues relating to smart metering.

“Smart meter” is a term used to describe meters which keep detailed statistics on electricity usage and also on the usage of other utilities such as gas and water.

According to the Working Party opinion, the majority of data collected by smart meters comes within the definition of personal data in the Data Protection Directive and therefore gives rise to various obligations on data controllers. The Working Party outlines that in terms of smart metering, the data controller will usually be the utility/energy supplier; however other parties such as grid operators or third party service providers may also be data controllers.

The Working Party opinion states that the processing of such data should be undertaken with the fully-informed consent of the consumer and proposes that to facilitate consumers demonstrating their consent, the control panel of household smart meters should include a consent button.

The Working Party makes various other recommendations in order to avoid privacy infringements including keeping the collection of smart meter data to a minimum and collecting data only when needed. It is further recommended that smart meter data are deleted when no longer needed and that data controllers develop policies in relation to data collection and data retention to promote compliance with privacy legislation.

The Working Party also states that Privacy by Design, a concept whereby privacy is proactively used in technology as the default should be used in the implementation of all smart metering. The Working Party opinion sets out that as part of Privacy by Design, security and privacy audits and privacy impact assessments should be undertaken by data controllers.