What does your smart meter know about you?

Secure system or snooper's paradise? Our investigation team looks beyond the headlines to see if smart meters really hold information on you.

DData protection is a hot topic: we want to know who has our data and what they're doing with it- our smart reporters have travelled the country and spoken to the experts about smart meter security. The government's smart meter roll-out-which aims to offer a digital energy meter to every home in England, Scot-land and Wales by the end of 2020 - has attracted much Data protection is a hot topic: we want to know who has our data and what they're doing with it- our smart reporters have travelled the country and spoken to the experts about smart meter security. The government's smart meter roll-out-which aims to offer a digital energy meter to every home in England, Scot-land and Wales by the end of 2020 - has attracted much examined the evidence to answer your concerns. The truth is that smart meters are only able to record one kind of data: energy usage. Cyber-security expert Martin Jordan, chairman of the Network Exploitation and Defence Forum, said: "Unlike your social media account, smart meters do not hold your life history, your person-al information or what you had to eat over the weekend. "Smart meters simply measure how much energy you are using," he said. The system does not run on your home's Wi-Fi, but instead paws information through a secure network which helps to prevent hack-ing. Customers can choose how often they want the me-ter to transmit data (monthly, daily or half-hourly) which means customers are always in control of their energy data. And people are already us-ing this information to make informed energy choices, with more than 80% of smart meter users taking conscious steps to reduce their en-ergy use, and therefore their monthly bills. Being concerned about how your personal data is be-ing harvested is both natural and responsible. However, it's reassuring to know that smart meters can only col-lect data on energy usage -and this information is only shared with your energy supplier through a secure network.