In a speech at the recent Smart Metering Forum in London, Charles Hendry (head of the U.K. Department of Energy & Climate Change) said consumers are the heart of Great Britain’s smart metering initiative — and he explained how that initiative is gaining steam.

DECC forecasts that smart metering will provide the U.K. with up to €6 billion in benefits to consumers, suppliers and network operators. But in order to realize those benefits, consumers must understand their energy use. Also, a new business model is needed. This means the U.K. government must create an enduring regulatory and commercial framework for the smart grid.

Toward these ends, here’s what DECC plans for 2012…

• Publish end-to-end smart grid technical requirements, including specifications for the smart meter equipment.
• Gain experience from several testing and trial efforts.
• Launch the license application, and further solidify communications and data services procurement contracts, for DataCommsCo (DCC) — a new U.K. service to centrally manage data communication to and from residential electricity and gas smart meters.
• Develop the regulatory framework, including new legislation to address installation, code of practice, and rollout.
• Pursue a consumer engagement strategy — on which so much of smart grid success depends.

Some regulatory and commercial changes could help stakeholders (not just suppliers) to benefit from smart grid applications. For instance, electricity distributors could benefit from outage management, and consumers and third-party service providers could benefit from access to energy consumption data.

Regarding the new business model, some regulatory changes also could support smart grid benefits that go beyond meter-to-cash. Consequently, introducing smart meters and smart grid capabilities in the U.K. means that the scope of regulated activities will have to change.

Also, as in the U.S., data access issues must be resolved. DCC will have to handle and transmit different kinds of data to different stakeholders (suppliers, consumers, distributors and energy services providers).

While Hendry didn’t say anything new, it’s noteworthy in these uncertain times — think “sovereign debt crisis” — that the U.K. not only remains on track with its smart meter initiative, but continues to move ahead at full throttle.