The government has mandated that every household in Great Britain will be offered a smart meter by 2020. The talk will cover what led to this decision and what benefits the customer gain by having them fitted. It will cover the technology employed and why there are two generations of meter, why customers cannot switch energy supplier with the first generation and why the second generation is years behind schedule. It will also cover the issues of data privacy and cyber security, the risks to critical national infrastructure associated with the roll out of the first generation smart meters and how these issues have been mitigated in other countries.