Smart metering

Smart metering is too loosely defined - allowing essentially dumb communicating meters to claim the mantle of a smart meter. The correct definition of smart metering is that it is a "system" for delivering dramatic improvements in utility operations, reliability, and customer service by offering detailed usage information, demand metering, detailed power quality data, outage information, integrated disconnect switch, integrated customer premise interface and flexible billing options. Smart metering systems serve as the key information-gathering source and foundation for a Smart Grid that helps utilities' better manage their operations, and customers better manage their energy consumption.

The essential thing about defining smart metering is that it's not just about the meter, it's really about the grid.

Smart metering is an essential part of the smart grid itself and leverages the grid itself. Any other sort of smart metering rides on top of the grid introducing risk, increasing complexity, and adding cost.

Implemented properly, it provides information and control of energy and serves all stakeholders for different reasons. Only a real win-win scenario will make the goals of 20-20-20 happen. Consumers, distribution companies, and retailers, will all benefit from smart metering. A smart grid will build upon the information provided by the smart metering system (located at the low voltage network). It will provide grid intelligence to an information and control system to address the stability of the energy network. A smart grid will improve management of the transmission and distribution assets as well as their generation portfolio in order to keep pace with their customers' increasing peak electricity demands. For the supplier and retailer, it will make possible, and accelerate the adoption of new services to enable them to create unique market propositions, and differentiate their offering in increasingly competitive energy markets.

All of these great benefits to utilities also mean, of course, that the consumer wins.

What benefits do smart meters provide to both consumers and utility companies?

The consumer, and in general the society, will benefit from smart meters and the smart grid, since they provide a way to achieve a decrease in energy usage by raising consumer awareness of the cost and impact of electronic devices in our homes and offices, and the real "cost" of electricity. The most obvious direct benefit will be in the form of lower energy bills at the end of the month!

Demand Side Management, or Demand Response, will be instrumental in managing the growing demand for energy, especially combined with new and innovative pricing plans and consumer facing services, e.g., energy use portals. The combination of heightened awareness, an ability to track and manage use, and incentives will give consumers a sense of "energy empowerment" that they have never before experienced, and this will be huge.

For the retailers, the marketer, it provides opportunities to add value beyond energy to a client. For instance, they can offer new products and services such as providing an in-home display, tariff schedules more focused to specific consumer groups, a service like an energy advise, a service to provide remote control of air conditioning or heating; and a web portal providing all kind of information about the energy usage with useful comparisons and advice.

By using smart meters, the distribution grid owner (DGO) will have ability to get more information from the low voltage network. For example, through information like phase detection the DGO will be able to extend lifetime of a substation; and by watching voltage, certain patterns the DGO can detect fraud and recover income. The best of th smart meters, those that provide grid intelligence like power quality data, power factor, THD, frequencies and other measurements, will give DGOs better insight into the grid.

The true smart grid creates an energy network that will detect and address emerging problems in the system before they negatively affect service. It will be able to respond to local and system-wide inputs, have much more information about broader system problems, and most importantly, able to react to or resolve problems as they occur.

What types of tools and solutions can utility providers use to streamline their automated metering processes?

First of all, a utility should look for a system, a proven system, and not for just meters or parts of a system. Many utilities still have a very meter-centric view of the world when in fact they and their customers would be far better served by looking for a system consisting of meters, communication infrastructure and device management. Utilities need a system that fits their architecture independent of communication layers, current available or used technologies, and has the flexibility and interoperability necessary to provide new services or meet new market demands in the future without rebuilding or re-metering.

One thing to avoid is the trap that meter interoperability is a requirement to make the smart grid work. It is not.

Interoperability is too often used as an excuse to push a particular technology, regardless of its actual suitability for the application. Such agendas manifest themselves as a "choose one standard" technology approach; while in today's, and tomorrow's world we know that technologies will continue to evolve.

We believe in a more open, utility and consumer friendly approach that promotes market dynamics while surpassing the benefits of the one technology fits approach to interoperability. The best direction for interoperability is to follow the NTA 8150 standard type of model, which defines interoperability at the web services, enterprise level and is already proving itself in The Netherlands.

The NTA 8150 standard, an ESNA initiative, defines an API to a "virtual device or meter" that enables utilities to maintain and leverage their large investment in IT systems and applications and allows them the option to work with a variety of underlying metering systems. This approach allows utilities to take advantage of the largest competitive market possible and also enables them to take advantage of new technologies as they emerge from any potential vendor. An additional benefit of standardizing at the enterprise level is that this will leverage and optimize the implementation of multiple smart grid applications rather than focusing on a single application, such as metering. Put another way, a system approach.

By contrast, the implementation of a specific metering interoperability standard limits innovation and promotes the smart grid as a point solution rather than as an enterprise infrastructure for an entire corporate solution. Defining interoperability only at the meter with a single technical standard will only raise costs for utilities and decrease the benefits to their consumers. The logic for this is simple, setting a hardware standard locks the meter in time, ending innovation and technical progress, and decreasing the number of meter suppliers. Few suppliers with no innovation will lead to higher cost and less function. And like most such efforts, the remaining players will create "open closed" products - ones that meet the letter of the law, but not the spirit. This has repeatedly occurred with these types of standards across multiple industries.

Today, the most proven and extensive system is Echelon's NES solution, compliant with NTA8150 and supported by ESNA, and many industry vendors. The NES solution has now grown to an iPod-like ecosystem with many companies building complementary products, on top of the platform (e.g. retail or meter data management applications) or below, beyond the customer's meter (displays, smart plugs, gateways).

How do you see smart metering developing in the future?

Smart metering will be able to support initiating an automated demand response system within all households, which can optimize energy usage and cost for the consumer. It will be the starting point for home automation, and link the worlds of metering and energy management with in-home Audio, Video and internet environments. It will change the marketing and product offerings of energy retailers, and trigger real grid management within DNOs.

Smart metering will be an essential foundation for a sustainable future, achieved by smart grids and smart people, and smart government policy. Smart decision makers will not make purchasing decisions just to comply with European directives for the sake of compliance, or in isolation from the real goal of a truly smart grid, but rather based on a desire to build a grander, smarter grid to better their business, empower and benefit their customers, and ultimately upon a belief that the right decisions will contribute to an improved future for the world.