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Slow standards on smart metering force utilities to go it alone Technical standards for smart meters have been slow to emerge at either UK or European level, so utilities are going it alone, says Deirdre Mason. This summer smart meters will start to be introduced across the UK. For the utility companies taking this step into the future, the key questions centre on interoperability and upcoming European Union standards. So, is everything running according to plan, or are problems being addressed only as they arise? Utility Week online debate During the recent online debate on smart metering hosted by Utility Week, concerns were voiced. Jason Brogden, smart metering manager at the Energy Retail Association, pointed out that although the Department of Energy and Climate Change had set out the broad requirements for interoperability, the implementation plan needed more detail to ensure that meters shared common functionality. He also said that setting up "home area network" interfaces for meters had to be an integral element of the mandate for functionality from Ofgem. Trevor Loveday, head of external affairs at the Energy Networks Association, said smart meters had to be compatible with smart grids, and crucially, that smart grid functions needed to be supported by telecommunications systems. Zoe Mcleod, who leads on the smart metering programme at watchdog Consumer Focus, said consumers must not find they have to switch telecoms supplier if they buy smart metering services. Meter life Another potential difficulty has been highlighted by Geode, an organisation representing electricity distribution networks in Europe. It is worried about the potentially much shorter life of the new meters compared with dumb meters, which can last for up to 20 years. As late as November last year, Geode was urging the European Commission to decide on exactly what functions should be required for smart meters in Europe and what elements should be standardised. Eurelectric, the umbrella group for the EU electricity industry, is also concerned about unanswered questions on interoperability and standardisation. Carlo Gonzales, of Spanish electricity association Unesa, spoke at a recent Eurelectric workshop on smart metering. He was positive about the potential benefits but warned that meters had to be interoperable throughout Europe. Otherwise innovation would be threatened. This key issue required solutions not yet provided by policymakers. What is clear is that meter manufacturers and the utility companies themselves are running out of patience with the regulators over the issue. British Gas caused a stir on 29 March by announcing that it had linked up with six partners to speed up its programme and install two million smart meters by 2012. British Gas initiative British Gas managing director Phil Bentley made it clear that the company was tired of waiting for details to come down from the European Commission and the British government. "We want all our customers to have smart meters as soon as possible," he said. "British Gas is building momentum to speed up the smart meter roll-out and beat the government's completion target of 2020." The company says it is also sharing its smart meter standards with other companies and has made the specification available to all. "Because industry plans are not fully developed yet, we have developed this specification so that it can adapt to future requirements," the company said in a statement. Mobile data GPRS communications means that records and data on both gas and electricity meters can be rewritten, allowing security and encryption standards, for example, to be upgraded and maintained. Alerts and alarms can be reconfigured to support future grid management. Customer rules controlling supply interruption and the management of prepayments are also configurable, the company says. British Gas's partners will play a considerable part in this standardisation. One of them, Landis+Gyr, will develop an in-home smart meter system, including smart electricity and gas meters. Last September, Landis+Gyr linked up with two other smart meter manufacturers, Iskraemeco and Itron, to agree interoperability standards across markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. British Gas is also opting for the US-developed ZigBee system, now seen as an industry standard for global wireless home area networks, which will link up in-home devices. Steve Cunningham, chief executive of Landis+Gyr UK and Ireland, says that having common standards will assuage fears that current smart meters will be unable to satisfy future demands or cope with appliance interaction - the long-term key to seeing substantial energy efficiency improvements. "The agreement on interoperability standards is a hugely important step," Cunningham told Utility Week. "It gives governments and utilities across Europe a new level of confidence in their investments." Cunningham is confident that in the next few years standards will mature quickly across Europe and spread out globally. Industry in the driving seat It is industry itself that is taking the initiative, and that was inevitable, according to some. John Parsons is the project co-ordinator for standards for the European Smart Metering Association and also works with the British Electrotechnical and Allied Manufacturers Association. "The British Gas announcement was a bit of a surprise, but a move like this was anticipated in the industry," he says. "People are still working out what needs to be interoperable or standardised. "Physical interfaces will all be common, linking to GPRS. It's how the data is represented in the meter and how it is understood once it comes out that is important. Previously, meters have had a publicly declared data system so that meter readers knew what software to use, and their formats were compatible." Standards from Europe So, what kind of standards are likely to emerge from Europe? Will they be mandatory? And will manufacturers find that the smart meters already in production will meet them? Parsons is sanguine: "We hope that the UK can set an example and lead these standards. We have always been a special case because of the way in which our utilities have developed. Europe may well look at what we are doing here and push ahead with the standards we are developing." Cenelec, the body for electrotechnical standardisation that sets the EU standards, is already hard at work on developing them. The deadline is 2012. "Cenelec's work here has been split into a variety of different groups and activities," says Parsons. "The big debate is whether it will be one set of simple standards or more varied." The EU tends to use standards as policy objectives. Parsons does not expect that, other than those for safety, the agreed standards will be mandatory. As long as the manufacturers can produce technical specifications and as long as the industry can develop interoperability, it is unlikely that any foreseeable EU standards will present a barrier to manufacturers, or to innovation, Parsons believes. "In the end, it is up to the purchaser to decide on what standards it must comply with, other than those in the safety directives. That said, it is normally better to comply with the standard." Deirdre Mason is a freelance journalist. Source: Karma Ockenden © Faversham House Group Ltd 2010. News articles may be copied or forwarded
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