The Next Generation Smart Meter – How Smart Can They Get

Edison Chemical Meter (1878 to late 1880s)

Handbook for Electrical Metermen

Advances in electricity metering technology have taken great strides since Thomas Edison invented the first electricity meter to measure energy consumption. Prior to that, electricity consumption was measured by how long a circuit was energized. Edison’s meter measured consumption using shunts connected across the load and consisted of several jars with zinc plates and a chemical solution. One set of jars gathered the main reading while the second set was operated off a smaller shunt for comparison purposes (a primitive check on the meter's accuracy). The monthly reading was made by removing the plates from the jars and weighing them with a laboratory balance. The change in the plates' weight between readings was a measure proportional to electricity consumption. This form of metrology was rapidly replaced by more reliable meters in the late 1880s, including the Thomson Recording Wattmeter.

The electric utility industry evolved from gas and electric carbon-arc commercial and street lighting systems. On September 4, 1882, the first Edison commercial power station on Pearl Street in lower Manhattan went into operation and provided light and electricity power to 59 customers over a one square mile area, for about 24 cents per kilowatt hour. The electric age had begun!

More advances were to follow. The hydroelectric development of Niagara Falls by George Westinghouse in 1896 inaugurated the practice of placing generating stations far from consumption centers. The Niagara plant transmitted massive amounts of power to Buffalo, New York - more than 20 miles away. With Niagara, Westinghouse convincingly demonstrated the superiority of alternating current (ac) over direct current (dc) for efficient transmission of power. To solve the problem of sending power over long distances, George Westinghouse developed the transformer. By transforming the low voltage output of the generator to a high voltage, this device enabled large quantities of power to be efficiently transmitted over long distances. This made it possible to supply electricity to homes and businesses located far from the electric generating plant.

This history lesson illustrates that, from the outset, energy measurement for revenue billing application has always been an essential element of the electric utility industry. From the first measurement of electric usage and the development of the electromechanical meter in the late 1800s, through development of the modern AC Electromechanical Energy Meter in the mid 20th century, the driving factors have always centered on measurement improvements. And the goals have remained virtually the same: Provide accurate and equitable means for distributing the cost to produce power to the consumer.

Over the last 15 years, Automated Meter Reading (AMR) gained popularity by reducing meter reading costs and providing accurate and timely reads primarily via walk-by and drive by solutions. In fact, about one in every three electricity meters in the USA is now equipped with an AMR device to read consumption.

Today, the electric utility industry continues to seek accuracy and equity in billing its customers, but industry leaders are also looking for much more. Regulatory requirements, energy conservation, demand side response, renewable energy supply, environmental concerns, consumer demands for increased reliability of service and the potential for energy shortages, are among the many factors driving technology innovation and business transformation.

And then there’s the consumer, who wants to be involved in energy usage matters. Consumers want to see and understand their usage, avoid demand peaks, conserve energy and hold down cost. Factors influencing these consumer demands include Time of Use pricing for energy, Critical Peak Pricing, Direct Load Control and Home Area Network energy management solutions. The interests of utilities, their customers and regulators are converging to create a growing need for Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and smart meters.

As part of the current industry business transformation process, utilities will need to implement outage response and outage management improvements, remote service disconnect/reconnect capability, load profiling and maintenance optimizations.

In fact, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 will lead many states to adopt policies that require smart meters to be an integral component of a total solution, including Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and Smart Grid functionality.

The gap between energy information requirements and meter capabilities led the Sensus team to envision a two-way metering gateway system that would serve as a platform for gathering data and information from electricity meters and providing information to customers. The iCon meter was designed in cooperation with a Customer Advisory Board composed of key utilities. Input from these users helped Sensus produce a meter that meets the needs of the electric utility market today and into the future. As an integral component of an AMI solution, the role of the electricity meter expanded beyond just being a revenue class instrument. Today’s electricity meters are multifunctional and designed to become an integral part of utility operation excellence programs providing effective solutions and a source of knowledge for energy management, demand side response, outage management, asset management, rate development, power quality analysis, customer relationship management and revenue protection.

The iCon Advanced meter offers the value added features that both utilities and their customers are seeking.

The iCon line of smart meters was also designed with features such as remote firmware upgrade and remote configuration to make it future proof and capable of supporting future features and services as they evolve. Dynamic rates integrated with distribution side automation will bring about the “smart grid” of the energy future.

And at the core of the smart grid will be the smart meter integrated with the best AMI communications system. The smart meter is the information portal for the end use consumer through their Home Area Network (HAN) and the smart meter will be one key element in an array of smart devices providing data throughout the utility network and making the grid smart.

Rich feature sets including net metering, time of use, remote demand reset, advanced power quality, multi-channel interval data, two-way communications, advanced calendar and clock features, event and alarm reporting, tamper detection, power outage and restore detection, theft detection, remote disconnect/reconnect, remote firmware upgrades, current limiting features are among the many features that position the Sensus family of smart meters as the ideal endpoints for demanding critical peak pricing and never-go-back, extended-life applications.

The smart meter can and will easily communicate with consumer products using open communications (Zigbee, IP HAN devices, or other open standards based radio that may emerge). In the home or small office environment this will be ideal. However, where communication of proprietary billing data is concerned a more reliable and powerful communications system is required.

The Sensus FlexNet system offers the best of all worlds for utility applications. The endpoints are fully compliant with industry standards such as C12.18 and C12.19. The head-end uses JMS, SQL Server and TCP/ IP to make endpoint data readily accessible. In the FlexNet system, the physical link that connects these two ends is a bulletproof pipe specifically designed for the reliability, terrain, logistics and longevity unique to AMI applications. The ability to make remote firmware upgrades will insure the useful life of the iCon FlexNet combination.

And smart meters will continue to get smarter. Features beyond the meter, Down Line Automation (DLA), remote control of electrical equipment outside of the substation, will allow the electric utility more capacity from their AMI equipment investment. We see a future where the utility will have access to real time data throughout the utility systems and their customer will have access through the Internet to consumption, billing and payment records and pricing options to help control and conserve energy. The next industry information leap is interoperability. We believe that the AMI communications system and the smart meter represent the launching pad for the “Smart Grid” in the future of electric utilities.

About the Author:

Arlin Rummel, Director Strategic Accounts, was appointed to the newly created position of Director Strategic Accounts in March 2007. The creation of this position formalized Sensus Metering Systems commitment to best in class customer satisfaction and technical support at large strategic accounts. Mr. Rummel joined Sensus Metering Systems in 2000 as Director Electric Metering and was responsible for development of the award winning iCon electricity meter with its patented Sentec sensor technology. Prior to joining Sensus, Mr. Rummel managed the electric revenue meter operation at Duquesne Light Company and was responsible for a successful system wide meter conversion to AMR. Mr. Rummel earned an MSEE from the University of Pittsburgh and holds an Electrical Engineering degree from Grove City College.