The smart metering impact assessment investigates the costs and benefits of different smart metering rollout scenarios for Switzerland during the period 2015-2035. It is based on the evaluation of smart metering pilot projects and 30 interviews with representatives from aca-demia, industry, and government. Next to the direct and indirect costs and benefits of smart metering, the study assesses the economic and ecologic effects of the investigated scenari-os. The interdisciplinary project team applied several simulation-based models to calculate these various effects. The impact assessment concludes that the benefits of a nationwide smart metering rollout outweigh the costs. Even though the smart metering equipment and its installation cause ad-ditional costs of one billion CHF (compared to the costs of maintaining the existing metering infrastructure), a full rollout leads to an energy consumption reduction worth 1.5 to 2.5 billion CHF. The study shows that the large load shifting potential in Switzerland only leads to small economic benefits, while the small consumption reduction potential leads to large benefits. Customers (households, services and industry) are the major benefactors of a smart meter-ing rollout. For network operators and energy suppliers, however, the associated costs are higher than the expected benefits. Additionally, smart metering leads to slightly positive im-pulses for the economy. The stimulation of competition amongst energy related products and services, the avoided external generation costs, and the importance of smart metering for Switzerland's energy strategy 2050 advocate for a nationwide rollout of smart metering.

Peter Hettich, Simone Walther, Jan Gerlach, Stefan Rechsteiner, Claudia Keller, Azra Dizdarevic-Hasic

2012