Queensland Investment Corporation has sealed a deal to acquire 50 per cent of the smart metering business of New Zealand-listed company Vector, in a deal valuation of $NZ2.51 billion .
Close to 90 per cent of New Zealanders have a smart meter in their home, while less than 30 per cent of Australian households have the same device. “Smart meters have a critical role to play in the decarbonisation of electricity supply in both Australia and New Zealand,” Mr Israel said. “Their role is rapidly evolving from data processing for timely billing purposes.“They are an enabler for electricity networks to manage an ever-increasing volume and volatility of electricity supply due to the broader energy transition and increasing penetration of renewable generation.
The threat of blackouts is widely seen as increasing as Australia struggles to build enough renewable energy generation and storage to compensate for a wave of fossil-fuel power stations retiring.Vector Metering owns or manages more than 2.3 million meters across the electricity and gas markets in Australia and New Zealand, but Mr Israel said there was a huge disparity between the uptake in both countries.