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106-605: The term smart meter often refers to an electricity meter , but it also may mean a device measuring natural gas , water or district heating consumption. More generally, a smart meter is an electronic device that records information such as consumption of electric energy , voltage levels, current, and power factor. Smart meters communicate the information to the consumer for greater clarity of consumption behavior, and electricity suppliers for system monitoring and customer billing. Smart meters typically record energy near real-time, and report regularly, short intervals throughout

212-409: A cartel may engage in price fixing . Conversely, on the consumer side, a monopsony may negotiate or demand prices that do not reflect the cost of production. The pricing power owned by an enterprise reflects the position of its products in the market. In this case, the price signal may no longer be able to affect such products. A long thread in economics (from Aristotle to classical economics to

318-498: A home area network , which can include an in-premises display and a hub to interface one or more meters with the head end. Technologies for this network vary from country to country, but include power line communication , wireless ad hoc network , and Zigbee . ANSI C12.18 is an ANSI Standard that describes a protocol used for two-way communications with a meter, mostly used in North American markets. The C12.18 Standard

424-416: A "lagging" or inductive load, such as a motor, will have positive reactive power. A "leading", or capacitive load, will have negative reactive power. Volt-amperes measures all power passed through a distribution network, including reactive and actual. This is equal to the product of root-mean-square volts and amperes. Distortion of the electric current by loads is measured in several ways. Power factor

530-507: A 200-volt supply, then 20 kilowatt-hours of energy had been supplied. An early type of electrochemical meter used in the United Kingdom was the 'Reason' meter. This consisted of a vertically mounted glass structure with a mercury reservoir at the top of the meter. As current was drawn from the supply, electrochemical action transferred the mercury to the bottom of the column. Like all other DC meters, it recorded ampere hours. Once

636-545: A centralized IDS, embedded IDS, or dedicated IDS depending on the individual needs of the utility. Researchers have found that for a typical advanced metering infrastructure, the centralized IDS architecture is superior in terms of cost efficiency and security gains. In the United Kingdom, the Data Communication Company, which transports the commands from the supplier to the smart meter, performs an additional anomaly check on commands issued (and signed) by

742-615: A certain kind of product is in shortage supply and the price rises, people will pay more attention to and produce this kind of product. The information carried by prices is an essential function in the fundamental coordination of an economic system, coordinating things such as what has to be produced, how to produce it and what resources to use in its production. In mainstream (neoclassical) economics , under perfect competition relative prices signal to producers and consumers what production or consumption decisions will contribute to allocative efficiency . According to Friedrich Hayek , in

848-414: A claim that Connecticut Light & Power disputed. Smart meters allow dynamic pricing; it has been pointed out that, while this allows prices to be reduced at times of low demand, it can also be used to increase prices at peak times if all consumers have smart meters. Additionally smart meters allow energy suppliers to switch customers to expensive prepay tariffs instantly in case of difficulties paying. In

954-480: A common management platform. A universal metering interface would allow for development and mass production of smart meters and smart grid devices prior to the communication standards being set, and then for the relevant communication modules to be easily added or switched when they are. This would lower the risk of investing in the wrong standard as well as permit a single product to be used globally even if regional communication standards vary. Some smart meters may use

1060-419: A couple of watts at full load, which is registered on the meter. The disc is acted upon by two sets of induction coils , which form, in effect, a two phase linear induction motor . One coil is connected in such a way that it produces a magnetic flux in proportion to the voltage and the other produces a magnetic flux in proportion to the current . The field of the voltage coil is delayed by 90 degrees, due to

1166-408: A day, to record usage during peak high-cost periods and off-peak, lower-cost, periods. Also, in some areas meters have relays for demand response load shedding during peak load periods. The earliest commercial uses of electric energy, in the 1880s, had easily predictable usage; billing was based on the number of lamps or motors installed in a building. However, as usage spread, and especially with

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1272-654: A dedicated prepay meter to be installed.) In 2022, 3.2 million people were left without power at some point after running out of prepay credit. There are questions about whether electricity is or should be primarily a "when you need it" service where the inconvenience/ cost-benefit ratio of time-shifting of loads is poor. In the Chicago area, Commonwealth Edison ran a test installing smart meters on 8,000 randomly selected households together with variable rates and rebates to encourage cutting back during peak usage. In Crain's Chicago Business article "Smart grid test underwhelms. In

1378-637: A display outside their homes could provide up-to-date information on gas and electricity consumption and in doing so help people to manage their energy use and reduce their energy bills. With regards to consumption reduction, this is critical for understanding the benefits of smart meters because the relatively small percentage benefits in terms of savings are multiplied by millions of users. Smart meters for water consumption can also provide detailed and timely information about customer water use and early notification of possible water leaks in their premises. Electricity pricing usually peaks at certain predictable times of

1484-609: A distance of 1 foot from the meter, RF exposure would be at a rate of 0.14% of the FCC PEL. An indirect potential for harm to health by smart meters is that they enable energy companies to disconnect consumers remotely, typically in response to difficulties with payment. This can cause health problems to vulnerable people in financial difficulty; in addition to denial of heat, lighting, and use of appliances, there are people who depend on power to use medical equipment essential for life. While there may be legal protections in place to protect

1590-437: A length of 32-100 ms. The meter constant (pulses per kWh) is programmable on some meters, but often fixed to 1000-10000 pulses per kWh . Other meters implement a similar pulse interface, but with an infrared LED instead of an electrical connection. The interface is also used on other kinds of meters, like water meters. Many meters designed for semi-automated reading have a serial port that communicates by infrared LED through

1696-583: A new standard for smart grid HAN communications called the HomePlug Green PHY specification. It is interoperable and coexistent with the widely deployed HomePlug AV technology and with the latest IEEE 1901 global Standard and is based on Broadband OFDM technology. ITU-T commissioned in 2010 a new project called G.hnem, to address the home networking aspects of energy management, built upon existing Low Frequency Narrowband OFDM technologies. The Google.org 's PowerMeter , until its demise in 2011,

1802-409: A power supply, a metering engine, a processing and communication engine (i.e. a microcontroller ), and other add-on modules such as a real time clock (RTC), a liquid crystal display, infra red communication ports/modules and so on. The metering engine is given the voltage and current inputs and has a voltage reference, samplers and quantisers followed by an analog to digital conversion section to yield

1908-535: A report published by Brian Krebs , in 2009 a Puerto Rico electricity supplier asked the FBI to investigate large-scale thefts of electricity related to its smart meters. The FBI found that former employees of the power company and the company that made the meters were being paid by consumers to reprogram the devices to show incorrect results, as well as teaching people how to do it themselves. Several hacking tools that allow security researchers and penetration testers verify

2014-423: A request by the state's largest utility, Connecticut Light & Power , to install 1.2 million of the devices, arguing that the potential savings in electric bills do not justify the cost. CL&P already offers its customers time-based rates. The state's Attorney General George Jepsen was quoted as saying the proposal would cause customers to spend upwards of $ 500 million on meters and get few benefits in return,

2120-483: A schedule. These systems include hardware, software, communications, consumer energy displays and controllers, customer associated systems, meter data management software, and supplier business systems. Government agencies and utilities are turning toward advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) systems as part of larger "smart grid" initiatives. AMI extends automatic meter reading (AMR) technology by providing two-way meter communications, allowing commands to be sent toward

2226-443: A smart meter and make it more readily available to users to help encourage conservation. Price signal A price signal is information conveyed to consumers and producers , via the prices offered or requested for, and the amount requested or offered of a product or service , which provides a signal to increase or decrease quantity supplied or quantity demanded. It also provides potential business opportunities . When

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2332-464: A switch to interrupt or restore service. Historically, rotating meters could report their metered information remotely, using a pair of electrical contacts attached to a KYZ line. A KYZ interface is a Form C contact supplied from the meter. In a KYZ interface, the Y and Z wires are switch contacts, shorted to K for a measured amount of energy. When one contact closes the other opens to provide count accuracy security. Each contact change of state

2438-425: A system in which the knowledge of the relevant facts is dispersed among many people, prices can act to coordinate the separate actions of different people in the same way as subjective values help the individual to coordinate the parts of his plan. Alternative theories include that prices reflect relative pricing power of producers and consumers. A monopoly may set prices so as to maximize monopoly profit , while

2544-618: A test IR LED to transmit non-encrypted usage data that bypasses meter security by transmitting lower level data in real-time. The other critical technology for smart meter systems is the information technology at the utility that integrates the Smart Meter networks with utility applications, such as billing and CIS. This includes the Meter Data Management system. It also is essential for smart grid implementations that power line communication (PLC) technologies used within

2650-481: A time interval. Electric utilities use electric meters installed at customers' premises for billing and monitoring purposes. They are typically calibrated in billing units, the most common one being the kilowatt hour ( kWh ). They are usually read once each billing period. When energy savings during certain periods are desired, some meters may measure demand, the maximum use of power in some interval. "Time of day" metering allows electric rates to be changed during

2756-522: A total of eight recent fire incidents involving the meters, SaskPower was ordered by the Government of Saskatchewan to immediately end its smart meter program, and remove the 105,000 smart meters it had installed. One technical reason for privacy concerns is that these meters send detailed information about how much electricity is being used each time. More frequent reports provide more detailed information. Infrequent reports may be of little benefit for

2862-522: A visit by a company representative at least annually in order to verify customer-supplied readings and to make a basic safety check of the meter. In an induction type meter, creep is a phenomenon that can adversely affect accuracy, that occurs when the meter disc rotates continuously with potential applied and the load terminals open circuited. A test for error due to creep is called a creep test. Two standards govern meter accuracy, ANSI C12.20 for North America and IEC 62053. Electronic meters display

2968-620: Is ANSI C12.18 . Some industrial meters use protocols for programmable logic controllers , like Modbus or DNP3 . One protocol proposed for this purpose is DLMS/COSEM which can operate over any medium, including serial ports. The data can be transmitted by Zigbee , Wi-Fi , telephone lines or over the power lines themselves . Some meters can be read over the internet. Other more modern protocols are also becoming widely used, like OSGP (Open Smart Grid Protocol). Electronic meters now also use low-power radio , GSM , GPRS , Bluetooth , IrDA , as well as RS-485 wired link. The meters can store

3074-776: Is half-duplex . IEC 61107 is related to, and sometimes wrongly confused with, the FLAG protocol. Ferranti and Landis+Gyr were early proponents of an interface standard that eventually became a sub-set of IEC1107. The Open Smart Grid Protocol (OSGP) is a family of specifications published by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) used in conjunction with the ISO/IEC 14908 control networking standard for smart metering and smart grid applications. Millions of smart meters based on OSGP are deployed worldwide. On July 15, 2015,

3180-548: Is a communication protocol for smart meters published by the IEC that is widely used for utility meters in the European Union. It is superseded by IEC 62056 , but remains in wide use because it is simple and well-accepted. It sends ASCII data using a serial port . The physical media are either modulated light, sent with an LED and received with a photodiode , or a pair of wires, usually modulated by EIA-485 . The protocol

3286-399: Is a major part of meter design. The processing and communication section has the responsibility of calculating the various derived quantities from the digital values generated by the metering engine. This also has the responsibility of communication using various protocols and interface with other addon modules connected as slaves to it. RTC and other add-on modules are attached as slaves to

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3392-471: Is a series of dials which record the amount of energy used. The dials may be of the cyclometer type, an odometer-like display that is easy to read where for each dial a single digit is shown through a window in the face of the meter, or of the pointer type where a pointer indicates each digit. With the dial pointer type, adjacent pointers generally rotate in opposite directions due to the gearing mechanism. The amount of energy represented by one revolution of

3498-735: Is being used. Research has demonstrated that smart meters sampling power levels at two-second intervals can reliably identify when different electrical devices are in use. Ross Anderson wrote about privacy concerns "It is not necessary for my meter to tell the power company, let alone the government, how much I used in every half-hour period last month"; that meters can provide "targeting information for burglars"; that detailed energy usage history can help energy companies to sell users exploitative contracts; and that there may be "a temptation for policymakers to use smart metering data to target any needed power cuts." Reviews of smart meter programs, moratoriums, delays, and "opt-out" programs are some responses to

3604-457: Is considered one pulse. The frequency of pulses indicates the power demand. The number of pulses indicates energy metered. When incorporated into an electromechanical meter, the relay changes state with each full or half rotation of the meter disc. Each state change is called a "pulse." KYZ outputs were historically attached to "totaliser relays" feeding a "totaliser" so that many meters could be read all at once in one place. KYZ outputs are also

3710-426: Is made to rotate at a speed proportional to the power passing through the meter. The number of revolutions is thus proportional to the energy usage. The voltage coil consumes a small and relatively constant amount of power, typically around 2 watts which is not registered on the meter. The current coil similarly consumes a small amount of power in proportion to the square of the current flowing through it, typically up to

3816-400: Is the ratio of resistive (or real) power to volt-amperes. A capacitive load has a leading power factor, and an inductive load has a lagging power factor. A purely resistive load (such as a filament lamp, heater or kettle) exhibits a power factor of 1. Current harmonics are a measure of distortion of the wave form. For example, electronic loads such as computer power supplies draw their current at

3922-487: Is to provide convenient real-time feedback to users so they can change their energy using behaviour. Recently, low-cost energy feedback displays have become available, that may be able to measure energy (Watt-hours), momentary power (wattage), and may additionally be able to measure the MAINS voltage, current, uptime, apparent power , capturing peak wattage and peak current, and have a manually set clock. The display may indicate

4028-407: Is written specifically for meter communications via an ANSI Type 2 Optical Port, and specifies lower-level protocol details. ANSI C12.19 specifies the data tables that are used. ANSI C12.21 is an extension of C12.18 written for modem instead of optical communications, so it is better suited to automatic meter reading . ANSI C12.22 is the communication protocol for remote communications. IEC 61107

4134-454: The 7 million smart meters in Texas had not persuaded many people to check their energy data as the process was too complicated. Electricity meter An electricity meter , electric meter , electrical meter , energy meter , or kilowatt-hour meter is a device that measures the amount of electric energy consumed by a residence , a business , or an electrically powered device over

4240-664: The British General Electric Company introduced it commercially into Great Britain from 1888. Aron's meter recorded the total charge used over time, and showed it on a series of clock dials. The first specimen of the AC kilowatt-hour meter produced on the basis of Hungarian Ottó Bláthy 's patent and named after him was presented by the Ganz Works at the Frankfurt Fair in the autumn of 1889, and

4346-579: The CCST report failed to correct errors in its comparison to cell phones and microwave ovens and that, when these errors are corrected, smart meters "may produce cumulative whole-body exposures far higher than that of cell phones or microwave ovens." The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has adopted recommended Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) for all RF transmitters (including smart meters) operating at frequencies of 300 kHz to 100 GHz. These limits, based on field strength and power density, are below

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4452-512: The OSGP Alliance announced the release of a new security protocol (OSGP-AES-128-PSK) and its availability from OSGP vendors. This deprecated the original OSGP-RC4-PSK security protocol which had been identified to be vulnerable. There is a growing trend toward the use of TCP/IP technology as a common communication platform for Smart Meter applications, so that utilities can deploy multiple communication systems, while using IP technology as

4558-679: The PAP15 group, which studies and recommends coexistence mechanisms with a focus on the harmonization of PLC Standards for the HAN. The objective of the group is to ensure that all PLC technologies selected for the HAN coexist as a minimum. The two leading broadband PLC technologies selected are the HomePlug AV / IEEE 1901 and ITU-T G.hn technologies. Technical working groups within these organizations are working to develop appropriate coexistence mechanisms. The HomePlug Powerline Alliance has developed

4664-548: The RF exposure of people in their homes to smart meters is likely to be minuscule compared to RF exposure to cell phones and microwave ovens. Daniel Hirsch, retired director of the Program on Environmental and Nuclear Policy at UC Santa Cruz , criticized the CCST report on the grounds that it did not consider studies that suggest the potential for non-thermal health effects such as latent cancers from RF exposure. Hirsch also stated that

4770-597: The Smartgrid Cybersecurity Committee, the U.S. Department of Energy published cybersecurity guidelines for grid operators in 2010 and updated them in 2014. The guidelines "...present an analytical framework that organizations can use to develop effective cybersecurity strategies..." Implementing security protocols that protect these devices from malicious attacks has been problematic, due to their limited computational resources and long operational life. The current version of IEC 62056 includes

4876-517: The UK consumer group Which? , showed that as many as one in three confuse smart meters with energy monitors , also known as in-home display monitors. In 1972, Theodore Paraskevakos , while working with Boeing in Huntsville, Alabama , developed a sensor monitoring system that used digital transmission for security, fire, and medical alarm systems as well as meter reading capabilities. This technology

4982-467: The UK during a period of very high energy prices from 2022, companies were remotely switching smart meters from a credit tariff to an expensive prepay tariff which disconnects supplies unless credit has been purchased. While regulations do not permit this without appropriate precautions to help those in financial difficulties and to protect the vulnerable, the rules were often flouted. (Prepaid tariffs could also be levied without smart meters, but this required

5088-521: The amount of energy used, other types of metering are available. Meters which measured the amount of charge ( coulombs ) used, known as ampere hour meters , were used in the early days of electrification. These were dependent upon the supply voltage remaining constant for accurate measurement of energy usage, which was not a likely circumstance with most supplies. The most common application was in relation to special-purpose meters to monitor charge / discharge status of large batteries. Some meters measured only

5194-426: The charge consumed as read from the scale. The agent would then reset the meter to zero by inverting it. In 1885 Ferranti offered a mercury motor meter with a register similar to gas meters; this had the advantage that the consumer could easily read the meter and verify consumption. The first accurate, recording electricity consumption meter was a DC meter by Hermann Aron , who patented it in 1883. Hugo Hirst of

5300-583: The classic way of attaching electricity meters to programmable logic controllers , HVACs or other control systems. Some modern meters also supply a contact closure that warns when the meter detects a demand near a higher electricity tariff , to improve demand side management . EN 62053-31 (formerly DIN 43864) defines the S0 interface , which is a galvanically isolated open collector output. Voltage and current are limited to 27 V and 27 mA, respectively. Each metered amount of electrical energy produces one impulse with

5406-445: The coil's inductive nature, and calibrated using a lag coil. This produces eddy currents in the disc and the effect is such that a force is exerted on the disc in proportion to the product of the instantaneous current and instantaneous voltage. A permanent magnet acts as an eddy current brake , exerting an opposing force proportional to the speed of rotation of the disc. The equilibrium between these two opposing forces results in

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5512-517: The concerns of customers and government officials. In response to residents who did not want a smart meter, in June 2012 a utility in Hawaii changed its smart meter program to "opt out". The utility said that once the smart grid installation project is nearing completion, KIUC may convert the deferral policy to an opt-out policy or program and may charge a fee to those members to cover the costs of servicing

5618-422: The construction of additional generation or at least the purchase of energy from higher-priced sources, thereby controlling the steady and rapid increase of electricity prices. An academic study based on existing trials showed that homeowners' electricity consumption on average is reduced by approximately 3-5% when provided with real-time feedback. Another advantage of smart meters that benefits both customers and

5724-452: The cost, health, fire risk, security and privacy effects of smart meters and the remote controllable " kill switch " that is included with most of them. Many of these concerns regard wireless-only smart meters with no home energy monitoring or control or safety features. Metering-only solutions, while popular with utilities because they fit existing business models and have cheap up-front capital costs, often result in such "backlash". Often

5830-435: The day and the season. In particular, if generation is constrained, prices can rise if power from other jurisdictions or more costly generation is brought online. Proponents assert that billing customers at a higher rate for peak times encourages consumers to adjust their consumption habits to be more responsive to market prices and assert further, that regulatory and market design agencies hope these " price signals " could delay

5936-744: The day. Smart meters enable two-way communication between the meter and the central system. Smart meters may be part of a smart grid , but do not themselves constitute a smart grid. Such an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) differs from automatic meter reading (AMR) in that it enables two-way communication between the meter and the supplier. Communications from the meter to the network may be wireless, or via fixed wired connections such as power line carrier (PLC) . Wireless communication options in common use include cellular communications, Wi-Fi (readily available), wireless ad hoc networks over Wi-Fi, wireless mesh networks , low power long-range wireless (LoRa) , Wize (high radio penetration rate, open, using

6042-416: The digitised equivalents of all the inputs. These inputs are then processed using a digital signal processor to calculate the various metering parameters. The largest source of long-term errors in the meter is drift in the preamp, followed by the precision of the voltage reference. Both of these vary with temperature as well, and vary wildly when meters are outdoors. Characterising and compensating for these

6148-536: The disadvantages of the electrochemical type and could operate on either alternating or direct current. In 1894 Oliver Shallenberger of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation applied the induction principle previously used only in AC ampere hour meters to produce a watt-hour meter of the modern electromechanical form, using an induction disk whose rotational speed was made proportional to

6254-465: The disc is denoted by the symbol Kh which is given in units of watt-hours per revolution. The value 7.2 is commonly seen. Using the value of Kh one can determine their power consumption at any given time by timing the disc with a stopwatch. P = 3600 ⋅ K h t {\displaystyle P={{3600\cdot Kh} \over t}} . Where: For example, if Kh = 7.2 as above, and one revolution took place in 14.4 seconds,

6360-416: The disc rotating at a speed proportional to the power or rate of energy usage. The disc drives a register mechanism which counts revolutions, much like the odometer in a car, in order to render a measurement of the total energy used. Different phase configurations use additional voltage and current coils. The disc is supported by a spindle which has a worm gear which drives the register. The register

6466-492: The electricity meter is the kilowatt hour [ kWh ], which is equal to the amount of energy used by a load of one kilowatt over a period of one hour , or 3,600,000 joules . Some electricity companies use the SI megajoule instead. Demand is normally measured in watts, but averaged over a period, most often a quarter- or half-hour. Reactive power is measured in "thousands of volt-ampere reactive -hours", (kvarh). By convention,

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6572-462: The end of 2008 was about 39 million units, according to analyst firm Berg Insight. Globally, Pike Research found that smart meter shipments were 17.4 million units for the first quarter of 2011. Visiongain determined that the value of the global smart meter market would reach US$ 7 billion in 2012. As of January 2018, over 99 million electricity meters were deployed across the European Union, with an estimated 24 million more to be installed by

6678-457: The end of 2020. The European Commission DG Energy estimates the 2020 installed base to have required €18.8 billion in investment, growing to €40.7 billion by 2030, with a total deployment of 266 million smart meters. By the end of 2018, the U.S. had over 86 million smart meters installed. In 2017, there were 665 million smart meters installed globally. Revenue generation is expected to grow from $ 12.8 billion in 2017 to $ 20 billion by 2022. Since

6784-588: The energy supplier. As Smart Meter devices are Intelligent Measurement Devices which periodically record the measured values and send the data encrypted to the Service Provider, therefore in Switzerland these devices need to be evaluated by an evaluation Laboratory, and need to be certified by METAS from 01.01.2020 according to Prüfmethodologie (Test Methodology for Execution of Data Security Evaluation of Swiss Smart Metering Components). According to

6890-468: The energy used on an LCD or LED display, and some can also transmit readings to remote places. In addition to measuring energy used, some electronic meters can also record other parameters of the load and supply such as instantaneous and maximum rate of usage demands, voltages, power factor and reactive power used etc. They can also support time-of-day billing, for example, recording the amount of energy used during on-peak and off-peak hours. The meter has

6996-429: The entire smart grid and smart building concept is discredited in part by confusion about the difference between home control and home area network technology and AMI. The (now former) attorney general of Connecticut has stated that he does not believe smart meters provide any financial benefit to consumers, however, the cost of the installation of the new system is absorbed by those customers. Smart meters expose

7102-420: The entire usage profiles with timestamps and relay them at the click of a button. The demand readings stored with the profiles accurately indicate the load requirements of the customer. This load profile data is processed at the utilities for billing and planning purposes. AMR ( Automatic Meter Reading ) and RMR (Remote Meter Reading) describe various systems that allow meters to be checked remotely, without

7208-481: The faceplate of the meter. In some multi-unit buildings, a similar protocol is used, but in a wired bus using a serial current loop to connect all the meters to a single plug. The plug is often near a more easily accessible point. In the European Union, the most common infrared and protocol is "FLAG", a simplified subset of mode C of IEC 61107 . In the United States and Canada, the favored infrared protocol

7314-576: The first induction kilowatt-hour meter was already marketed by the factory at the end of the same year. These were the first alternating-current watt-hour meters, known by the name of Bláthy-meters. The AC kilowatt hour meters used at present operate on the same principle as Bláthy's original invention. Also around 1889, Elihu Thomson of the American General Electric company developed a recording watt meter (watt-hour meter) based on an ironless commutator motor. This meter overcame

7420-661: The frequency 169 MHz) Zigbee (low power, low data rate wireless), and Wi-SUN (Smart Utility Networks). Similar meters, usually referred to as interval or time-of-use meters, have existed for years, but smart meters usually involve real-time or near real-time sensors, power outage notification, and power quality monitoring. These additional features are more than simple automated meter reading (AMR). They are similar in many respects to Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) meters. Interval and time-of-use meters historically have been installed to measure commercial and industrial customers, but may not have automatic reading. Research by

7526-415: The frequency of reports. A solution that benefits both provider and user privacy would be to adapt the interval dynamically. Another solution involves energy storage installed at the household used to reshape the energy consumption profile. In British Columbia the electric utility is government-owned and as such must comply with privacy laws that prevent the sale of data collected by smart meters; many parts of

7632-444: The grid in order to balance the networks. As a result, smart meters are considered an essential technology to the decarbonisation of the energy system. Communication is a critical technological requirement for smart meters. Each meter must be able to reliably and securely communicate the information collected to a central location. Considering the varying environments and places where meters are found, that problem can be daunting. Among

7738-598: The home for multiple purposes, including time-based pricing information, demand-response actions, or remote service disconnects. Wireless technologies are critical elements of the neighborhood network, aggregating a mesh configuration of up to thousands of meters for back haul to the utility's IT headquarters. The network between the measurement devices and business systems allows the collection and distribution of information to customers, suppliers, utility companies , and service providers. This enables these businesses to participate in demand response services. Consumers can use

7844-489: The home over a Home Area Network (HAN), are standardized and compatible. The HAN allows HVAC systems and other household appliances to communicate with the smart meter, and from there to the utility. Currently there are several broadband or narrowband standards in place, or being developed, that are not yet compatible. To address this issue, the National Institute for Standards and Technology ( NIST ) established

7950-464: The inception of electricity deregulation and market-driven pricing throughout the world, utilities have been looking for a means to match consumption with generation. Non-smart electrical and gas meters only measure total consumption, providing no information of when the energy was consumed. Smart meters provide a way of measuring electricity consumption in near real-time. This allows utility companies to charge different prices for consumption according to

8056-423: The information provided by the system to change their normal consumption patterns to take advantage of lower prices. Pricing can be used to curb the growth of peak demand consumption. AMI differs from traditional automatic meter reading (AMR) in that it enables two-way communications with the meter. Systems only capable of meter readings do not qualify as AMI systems. Some groups have expressed concerns regarding

8162-490: The invention of pluggable appliances , it also became more variable, and the electric utilities sought a means to bill customers based on actual rather than estimated usage. Many experimental types of meter were developed. Thomas Edison at first worked on a direct current (DC) electromechanical meter with a direct reading register, but instead developed an electrochemical metering system, which used an electrolytic cell to totalise current consumption. At periodic intervals

8268-595: The length of time for which charge flowed, with no measurement of the magnitude of voltage or current being made. These are only suited for constant-load applications and are rarely used today. Electricity meters operate by continuously measuring the instantaneous voltage ( volts ) and current ( amperes ) to give energy used (in joules , kilowatt-hours etc.). Meters for smaller services (such as small residential customers) can be connected directly in-line between source and customer. For larger loads, more than about 200 ampere of load, current transformers are used, so that

8374-565: The levels of RF radiation that are hazardous to human health. Other studies substantiate the finding of the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST). In 2011, the Electric Power Research Institute performed a study to gauge human exposure to smart meters as compared to the FCC PEL. The report found that most smart meters only transmit RF signals 1% of the time or less. At this rate, and at

8480-425: The likelihood of additional infrastructure investments, which eliminates unnecessary spending or energy cost increases. Though the task of meeting national electricity demand with accurate supply is becoming ever more challenging as intermittent renewable generation sources make up a greater proportion of the energy mix, the real-time data provided by smart meters allow grid operators to integrate renewable energy onto

8586-403: The mercury pool was exhausted, the meter became an open circuit. It was therefore necessary for the consumer to pay for a further supply of electricity, whereupon, the supplier's agent would unlock the meter from its mounting and invert it restoring the mercury to the reservoir and the supply. In practice the consumer would get the supply company's agent in before the supply ran out and pay only for

8692-458: The meter can be located somewhere other than in line with the service conductors. The meters fall into two basic categories, electromechanical and electronic. The most common type of electricity meter is the electromechanical watt-hour meter. On a single-phase AC supply, the electromechanical induction meter operates through electromagnetic induction by counting the revolutions of a non-magnetic, but electrically conductive, metal disc which

8798-651: The need to send a meter reader. An electronic meter can transmit its readings by telephone line or radio to a central billing office. Large commercial and industrial premises may use electronic meters which record power usage in blocks of half an hour or less. This is because most electricity grids have demand surges throughout the day, and the power company may wish to give price incentives to large customers to reduce demand at these times. These demand surges often correspond to meal times or, famously, to advertisements interrupting popular television programmes . A potentially powerful means to reduce household energy consumption

8904-650: The pilot, few power down to save money.", it was reported that fewer than 9% exhibited any amount of peak usage reduction and that the overall amount of reduction was "statistically insignificant". This was from a report by the Electric Power Research Institute, a utility industry think tank who conducted the study and prepared the report. Susan Satter, senior assistant Illinois attorney general for public utilities said "It's devastating to their plan......The report shows zero statistically different result compared to business as usual." By 2016,

9010-424: The plates were removed and weighed, and the customer billed. The electrochemical meter was labor-intensive to read and not well received by customers. DC meters often measured charge in ampere hours. Since the voltage of the supply should remain substantially constant, the reading of the meter was proportional to actual energy consumed. For example, if a meter recorded that 100 ampere hours had been consumed on

9116-450: The possibility to encrypt, authenticate , or sign the meter data. One proposed smart meter data verification method involves analyzing the network traffic in real-time to detect anomalies using an Intrusion Detection System (IDS). By identifying exploits as they are being leveraged by attackers, an IDS mitigates the suppliers' risks of energy theft by consumers and denial-of-service attacks by hackers. Energy utilities must choose between

9222-404: The power consumption over the week graphically. A study using a consumer-readable meter in 500 Ontario homes by Hydro One showed an average 6.5% drop in total electricity use when compared with a similarly sized control group. Hydro One subsequently offered free power monitors to 30,000 customers based on the success of the pilot. Projects such as Google PowerMeter , take information from

9328-576: The power grid to cyberattacks that could lead to power outages , both by cutting off people's electricity and by overloading the grid. However many cyber security experts state that smart meters of UK and Germany have relatively high cybersecurity and that any such attack there would thus require extraordinarily high efforts or financial resources. The EU Cyber security Act took effect in June 2019, which includes Directive on Security Network and Information Systems establishing notification and security requirements for operators of essential services . Through

9434-508: The power in the circuit. The Bláthy meter was similar to Shallenberger and Thomson meter in that they are two-phase motor meter. Although the induction meter would only work on alternating current, it eliminated the delicate and troublesome commutator of the Thomson design. Shallenberger fell ill and was unable to refine his initial large and heavy design, although he did also develop a polyphase version. The most common unit of measurement on

9540-444: The power is 1800 watts. This method can be used to determine the power consumption of household devices by switching them on one by one. Most domestic electricity meters must be read manually, whether by a representative of the power company or by the customer. Where the customer reads the meter, the reading may be supplied to the power company by telephone , post or over the internet . The electricity company will normally require

9646-466: The present) distinguishes between exchange value, use value, price, and (sometimes) intrinsic value. It is frequently argued that the connection between price and other types of value is not as direct as suggested in the theory of price signals, other considerations playing a part. Financial speculation , particularly buying or selling assets with borrowed money, can move prices away from their economic fundamentals . Credit bubbles can sometimes distort

9752-508: The price signal mechanism, causing large-scale malinvestment and financial crises . Adherents of the Austrian school of economics attribute this phenomenon to the interference of central bankers , which they propose to eliminate by introducing full-reserve banking . By contrast, post-Keynesian economists such as Hyman Minsky have described it as a fundamental flaw of capitalism , corrected by financial regulation . Both schools have been

9858-533: The processing and communication section for various input/output functions. On a modern meter most if not all of this will be implemented inside the microprocessor, such as the RTC, LCD controller, temperature sensor, memory and analog to digital converters. Remote meter reading is a practical example of telemetry . It saves the cost of a human meter reader and the resulting mistakes, but it also allows more measurements, and remote provisioning. Many smart meters now include

9964-533: The provider, as it doesn't allow as good demand management in the response of changing needs for electricity. On the other hand, widespread reports would allow the utility company to infer behavioral patterns for the occupants of a house, such as when the members of the household are probably asleep or absent. Furthermore, the fine-grained information collected by smart meters raises growing concerns of privacy invasion due to personal behavior exposure (private activity, daily routine, etc.). Current trends are to increase

10070-571: The province-run utility company of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan , halted its roll-out of Sensus meters after similar, isolated incidents were discovered. Shortly afterward, Portland General Electric announced that it would replace 70,000 smart meters that had been deployed in the state of Oregon after similar reports. The company noted that it had been aware of the issues since at least 2013, and they were limited to specific models it had installed between 2010 and 2012. On July 30, 2014, after

10176-807: The security of electric utility smart meters have been released so far. Most health concerns about the meters arise from the pulsed radiofrequency (RF) radiation emitted by wireless smart meters. Members of the California State Assembly asked the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) to study the issue of potential health impacts from smart meters, in particular whether current FCC standards are protective of public health. The CCST report in April 2011 found no health impacts, based both on lack of scientific evidence of harmful effects from radio frequency (RF) waves and that

10282-477: The solutions proposed are: the use of cell and pager networks, satellite , licensed radio , combination licensed and unlicensed radio, and power line communication . Not only the medium used for communication purposes, but also the type of network used, is critical. As such, one would find: fixed wireless, wireless mesh network and wireless ad hoc networks , or a combination of the two. There are several other potential network configurations possible, including

10388-420: The time of day and the season. It also facilitates more accurate cash-flow models for utilities. Since smart meters can be read remotely, labor costs are reduced for utilities. Smart metering offers potential benefits to customers. These include, a) an end to estimated bills, which are a major source of complaints for many customers b) a tool to help consumers better manage their energy purchases—smart meters with

10494-659: The traditional meters. Any fee would require approval from the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission. After receiving numerous complaints about health, hacking, and privacy concerns with the wireless digital devices, the Public Utility Commission of the US state of Maine voted to allow customers to opt-out of the meter change at the cost of $ 12 a month. In Connecticut , another US state to consider smart metering, regulators declined

10600-427: The use of Wi-Fi and other internet related networks. To date no one solution seems to be optimal for all applications. Rural utilities have very different communication problems from urban utilities or utilities located in difficult locations such as mountainous regions or areas ill-served by wireless and internet companies. In addition to communication with the head-end network, smart meters may need to be part of

10706-553: The utility is the monitoring capability they provide for the whole electrical system. As part of an AMI, utilities can use the real-time data from smart meters measurements related to current, voltage, and power factor to detect system disruptions more quickly, allowing immediate corrective action to minimize customer impact such as blackouts. Smart meters also help utilities understand the power grid needs with more granularity than legacy meters. This greater understanding facilitates system planning to meet customer energy needs while reducing

10812-547: The voltage peak to fill their internal storage elements. This can lead to a significant voltage drop near the supply voltage peak which shows as a flattening of the voltage waveform. This flattening causes odd harmonics which are not permissible if they exceed specific limits, as they are not only wasteful, but may interfere with the operation of other equipment. Harmonic emissions are mandated by law in EU and other countries to fall within specified limits. In addition to metering based on

10918-519: The vulnerable, many people in the UK were disconnected in violation of the rules. Issues surrounding smart meters causing fires have been reported, particularly involving the manufacturer Sensus. In 2012. PECO Energy Company replaced the Sensus meters it had deployed in the Philadelphia , US region after reports that a number of the units had overheated and caused fires. In July 2014, SaskPower ,

11024-535: The world are serviced by private companies that are able to sell their data. In Australia debt collectors can make use of the data to know when people are at home. Used as evidence in a court case in Austin, Texas , police agencies secretly collected smart meter power usage data from thousands of residences to determine which used more power than "typical" to identify marijuana growing operations. Smart meter power data usage patterns can reveal much more than how much power

11130-582: Was a spin-off from the automatic telephone line identification system, now known as Caller ID . In 1974, Paraskevakos was awarded a U.S. patent for this technology. In 1977, he launched Metretek, Inc., which developed and produced the first smart meters. Since this system was developed pre-Internet, Metretek utilized the IBM series 1 mini-computer. For this approach, Paraskevakos and Metretek were awarded multiple patents. The installed base of smart meters in Europe at

11236-467: Was able to use a smart meter for tracking electricity usage, as can eMeter' Energy Engage as in, for example, the PowerCentsDC(TM) demand response program. Advanced metering infrastructure ( AMI ) refers to systems that measure, collect, and analyze energy usage, and communicate with metering devices such as electricity meters, gas meters, heat meters, and water meters, either on request or on

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