Regulatorische Probleme der Energiewende: Smart Meters – Anforderungen des Messwesens und des Datenschutzes

• Main Author: Christian Bock
• Format: Article
• Language: deu
• Published: Ubiquity Press 2013-12-01
• Series: Yearbook of Swiss Administrative Sciences
• Subjects: Smart meters; metrology; data protection
• Online Access: https://www.ssas-yearbook.com/articles/56

Neither the Metrology Law nor the Data Protection Law currently prohibit or prevent the use of smart meters. A new issue challenging us, however, is the fact that a wide range of measuring instruments is potentially affected and that their use may be stipulated and thus become mandatory. In the article, smart meters are examined with particular reference to legal metrology and data protection. Both the Metrology Law and the Data Protection Law are based on general principles or axioms. Whereas they apply to all processing of personal data, in metrology they only apply directly to legally recorded measuring instruments. Legal metrology is shaped by detailed provisions at various regulatory levels. Provisions of this type are only encountered occasionally in data protection (in Germany, for example). In order to regulate new technologies on a scale such as that for smart meters, a consistent legal framework is called for. If – as in the case of smart meters – the Energy Law, Metrology Law and Data Protection Law are not sufficiently harmonised, problems could arise. In particular, European metrology legislation has yet to come up with a convincing regulation in this area. In an extreme case, a smart meter is subject to several national or supranational approval procedures. Procedures of this kind should be coordinated to the greatest possible extent and conducted unbureaucratically. Complexity is increasing: ever more legislative fields must be coordinated, ever more players are appearing in the wake of market liberalisation, ever more legal systems interact directly and indirectly, and ultimately a functional smart grid presupposes that there is smooth interplay between all components. This complexity will be coped with in the medium term but scarcely in the initial phase.