Dear Privacy Commissioner,

Smart meter data, privacy status, inferred behaviour data, and regulatory safeguards

Kia ora,

Under the Official Information Act 1982, I request the following information from 1 January 2015 to the present concerning smart meter data, advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), and privacy governance in New Zealand.

Please provide:
1. Any internal briefings, legal analyses, issue papers, or correspondence concerning whether smart meter data may constitute personal information under the Privacy Act 2020.
2. Any records concerning privacy risks associated with:
• granular electricity consumption data,
• occupancy pattern inference,
• behavioural profiling,
• data sharing,
• secondary use,
• retention,
• or downstream analytics involving smart meter data.
3. Any inter-agency correspondence with MBIE, the Electricity Authority, Ministry of Health, Health NZ, ESR, or electricity retailers/distributors concerning privacy issues associated with smart meter or AMI data.
4. Any complaints trend summaries, enquiry summaries, anonymised issue notes, or guidance development documents relating to smart meter data or electricity-sector metering information.
5. Any draft or final guidance concerning consent, transparency, minimisation, access, correction, retention, disclosure, or safeguards in relation to smart meter data.
6. Any records considering whether existing privacy law adequately addresses inferred information generated from metering data, even where the raw data itself may appear technical or operational in nature.

If any part of this request is more closely connected with another agency, please transfer that part under section 14.

Kind regards,

Spencer Jones