Smart Metering for Energy Utilities

The electricity industry is one of the few industries where unconstrained demand is starting to be actively discouraged. The combination of rapidly increasing, more intense seasonal demand peaks with increasing pressure on infrastructure investment are causing the industry to look for ways of more intelligently managing demand.

Smart Metering for Energy Utilities is increasingly being seen as a tool through which regulators and network operators will be able to shape electricity demand patterns in the future. Smart Metering for Energy Utilities will allow operators to educate and financially incent consumers to be more aware of their energy usage. Ultimately, it could allow a limited level of control over non-critical load, thereby increasing the reliability of supply and asset utilization efficiency.

Regulatory Requirements

• Smart Metering for Energy Utilities aids companies in meeting stringent regulatory requirements

Simple management of multi-vendor meters

• Consolidates data from meters coming from different manufacturers each with their proprietary protocols.
• Interfaces to existing business systems minimizing rework of the back office

Improved energy efficiency 

• Provides detailed consumption across the complete customer base
• Can be linked to energy management systems to provide visibility and control
• Allows detailed characterization of different customer types

Opportunity for demand side control 

• Informs customers of consumption
• Enables demand control during periods of peak either through tariff or directly
• Enables retail competition

Economic Benefits

Complete solution covering communications and meter data management Communications

• Analysis of technology options
• Selection of best technology to meet utility’s circumstances
• Detailed design of solution
• Provision of network equipment
• Deployment and integration
• Ongoing support (operation and maintenance)

 Meter Data Management

• Tried and tested application platform with over 300 customers world-wide
• Meter agnostic implementation adapting to specific proprietary protocols
• Full meter configuration management (subject to meter’s capability)
• Period, scheduled or on-off meter reads
• Handling of meter alarms (tamper, outage)
• Customized handling of data and events
• Full statistics and reporting against any meter or other asset
• Options for web interfaces to independent retailers and end consumers

Deployment, Management, End User Benefits

The Alcatel-Lucent Integrated Smart Metering solution increases operational reliability and improves asset efficiency through:

• Enhanced influence and control over consumers’ electricity usage
• Emergency supply capacity control and brownout reduction
• Enhanced monitoring and outage management of customer supply
• Extension of smart grid to distribution transformers
• Deferred investment through shift/reduction of peak demand
• Deployed vendor-, technology- and protocol-agnostic infrastructure and platforms to optimize total cost of ownership (TCO) 

The solution also improves productivity and efficiency by:

• Leveraging wireless Smart Metering networks to increase workforce mobility and secure remote access
• Replacing manual meter reading with automated remote reading
• Preventing bad debt through pre-paid billing offerings

End-Customer Benefits:

• Helps improve reliability of power supply
• Improved customer visibility into energy usage
• Potential for savings on their energy bills (via flexible tariffing)