The main purpose of the present Act is to facilitate the implementation of smart meters. The Act transposes the EU Directives 2009/72/EG and 2009/73/EG into German law. The new Act also introduces specific and detailed requirements, both for the design of the smart meter devices and for the transmission of data. The overall goal is to open up the German energy market to digitisation, while ensuring a high standard regarding data protection and ICT security. Thus a digital infrastructure shall be developed that is capable of connecting more than 1.5 million electricity producers and large-scale consumers by introducing smart meters. They shall provide a secure communication platform which will make the electricity supply system fit for the energy transition. The Act also establishes binding protection profiles and technical guidelines to ensure data protection, data security and interoperability. The text consists of 77 articles divided into 4 Parts as follows: General provisions (I); Smart meters operation (II); Provisions on data communication in intelligent energy nets (III); Special tasks of the controlling authority (IV). One Annex is enclosed.