Smart metering: background and state of the art

Supervisor:

Robert Adelmann

Talk:

March 16, 2010

Report due:

March 9, 2010 (First version)
March 30, 2010 (Camera ready version)

Abstract:

Measuring electricity consumption for billing purposes was a common, although imprecise, practice already at the time of Thomas Edison. Within the last century technological progress allowed to make electricity meters more precise, reliable and robust. However, traditional electricity meters typically measure only the total amount of electricity consumed over a given period of time, thereby relying on the assumption of a constant electricity price over such period. Clearly, such devices are not able to support the dynamic pricing paradigm the electricity grid of the future will be based upon. For this (and other) reason(s), new devices, able to provide for fine-grained measurements of electricity consumption and typically referred to as smart meters, are being installed in billions of households in Europe and elsewhere.

After providing a brief review of the ``history'' of electricity metering, we will describe the main characteristics of modern smart meters and focus on their role in the current and future energy landscape. In particular, we will analyze if and how the feedback provided by smart meters can induce a significant reduction of energy consumption. Furthermore, we will discuss the current broadening of such devices in European households, thereby considering the role played by national and international regulators and companies.

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ETH ZurichDistributed Systems Group
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