Media Releases

Nationals MP for Northern Victoria, Damian Drum, said today the Nationals would continue to campaign against the State Government’s roll-out of so-called “Smart Meters.”

People in many parts of Northern Victoria have started to receive bills for their new Smart Meters, even though they might not be installed for up to three years.

“In Parliament today, the campaign to stop the rip off that these meters represent really cranked up,” Mr Drum said,

“The State Government has been forced to put some aspects of the meter roll out on hold, but the fact remains that these new systems would mean people would be paying higher electricity tariffs at high power usage times.

“We were told by Labor that these things would lead to lower electricity bills. That’s just wrong.

“You’ll get people such as pensioners who want to turn on the cooler when it’s hot, the heater when it’s cold, or cook the evening meal – all at times when higher rates are likely to be charged.

“But those most vulnerable people won’t have the ability to adjust their power consumption at other parts of the day, such as by turning on a pool filter pump to another time of the day.”

Mr Drum said his office had had many complaints from people angry at the new Smart Meters and demanding that the project be stopped.

“I even had one elderly couple in Bendigo upset that they were now paying for a meter they might not even live to see installed.”

He said the Government or the power companies could indicate if bills would genuinely be lower.

“At this stage, it looks like the only ones to benefit will be the power companies, who will read the meters remotely and won’t need to pay meter reading staff.

“Labor has rushed out the dumb Smart Meter project without any idea of what impact it would have. And those who face the worst impact are those who can least afford it.”