On the 9th of March the European Commission adopted a Recommendation to prepare the roll-out of smart-metering systems. The document is already available at the Commission’s website: http://ec.europa.eu/energy/gas_electricity/smartgrids/smartgrids_en.htm. It provides step-by-step guidelines for Member States on how to conduct cost-benefit analyses by 3 September 2012. It also sets common minimum functionalities of smart metering systems and addresses data protection and security issues.