There is much talk of smart grids and smart meters. The former concerns electricity only, whereas smart meters concerns electricity, gas and other utilities. When smart metes have two-way communication, smart meters are a first step towards a smart grid.

Already, 99% of electricity customer in Sweden and 90% in Italy have intelligent meters installed. In Norway, the Netherland and Spain the plans are for full (100%) roll-out of smart meters by 2013, 2016 and 2018 respectively. Will others follow suit? What does the 3^rd Package of energy legislation envisage for smart meters in Europe? What about the USA, Canada and Australia? What are the regulatory drivers for the adoption of smart meters? Will standardization and interoperability facilitate or prevent smart metering implementation? How to overcome regulatory and operational challenges of a smart grid to facilitate the delivery of renewable energy?

These questions, and more, will be discussed at the World Forum on Energy Regulation (WFERIV) in Athens in October. Read more…

Energy Ministers of the “G8” Countries (i.e. Italy, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, U.K. and USA) in May this year gave political legitimacy to the use of the forthcoming fourth World Forum on Energy Regulation (WFER IV) as an ideal forum to increase energy regulatory cooperation and to develop its conclusions for the next G8 Energy Ministerial meeting (in 2010).

The”G8+” regulators concretely committed to preparing a report on the promotion of energy efficiency that will be presented next year to the G8 Energy Ministers. The Role of Regulators in responding to Climate Change is one of four dedicated core themes of WFERIV running over the course of 3 day event. This discussion by energy regulators worldwide on this “hot” topic is particularly timely coming just a few short weeks before the United Nation’s Climate Change (Copenhagen) Summit in December. Read more about the regulators low carb(on) diet …;

In “what’s in a name” find out why John Mogg, the head of CEER and ERGEG – the bodies representing Europe’s energy regulators, signs himself as “Mogg”. Why did the European Commission put the “egg” into the European Regulators Group for Electricity and Gas (ERGEG)? …. Keep Reading…