See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/271556180

Smart Metering in electric power distribution system

Conference Paper · December 2013

DOI: 10.1109/CARE.2013.6733756

CITATION READS

1 9,880

2 authors, including:

Hari om Bansal
Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani
65 PUBLICATIONS   302 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

hybrid electric vehicle View project

Power optimiation in Hybrid Electric Vehicle View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Hari om Bansal on 17 May 2017.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Smart Metering in Electric Power Distribution
System

Karan Gandhi and Hari Om Bansal

Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department
Birla Institute of Technology and Science
Pilani, India

Abstract—Electric Energy is a vital resource in everyday reduced by substituting materials involved in supply with
life and a backbone to the industry. Being limited its proper materials having desired properties.
use and measurement is very important. Restructuring of Administrative losses are those losses which are given
power system, penetration of distributed generation and power
by unknown connections and missing meters in the system.
theft are going to be the key challenges in the near future. The
operational information will be crucial for the functioning of The third kind of loss is illegal use of electricity which is
the power distribution networks. One of the information done in several ways like tampering with meters to make it
sources is going to be the Advanced Metering Infrastructure record lower consumption reading, tapping (hooking) on LT
(AMI). Smart meter is an advanced energy meter that lines and arranging false readings by bribing meter readers
measures electrical energy consumption and provides etc. According to a survey in most of the developing
additional information as compared to a conventional energy countries including India also, 32% of produced electricity
meter. It aims to improve the reliability, quality and security of is wasted as losses; approximately 47-48% of this loss is
supply. Integration of AMI into electricity grid needs
due to electricity theft. This problem of theft can be
implementation of a variety of techniques, controls and
software, depending on the required features. This paper
addressed to a certain extent by installing smart metering
discusses the need of smart meters, their working, benefits and system. The gap between peak demand and the available
challenges in implementing them. The paper also presents few power is big, if time-wise consumption readings and thus
case studies and cost benefit analysis done earlier. variable tariff is imposed to encourage consumers to use
their appliances during off peak hours then this gap many
Keywords—Electric Energy, Power Theft, Smart Meter, minimized without establishing any new power plants as
Power Distribution System, Advanced Metering Infrastructure depicted in Fig. 1. This needs improvement in the current
metering system. Distributed Generation is becoming
I. Introduction popular nowadays. DG is defined as an electric power
generation source connected directly to the distribution
The development of human society depends on the
network or on the customer side. As penetration of DG is
proper and wise utilization of all resources whether natural
increasing its grid interconnection is going to be a
resource or a man-made resource. Electricity can be
challenging task. Utilities may impose different tariff for
categorized as a manmade resource but its production
this. Metering of this is further going to be tough with the
depends on the availability of natural resources like coal,
current meters [8]. This paper speaks about evolution of
water, wind and gas etc. Per capita consumption of
smart meter, its various components & working, few case
electricity is directly proportional to the economic growth of
studies, benefits and challenges in its implementation.
the country. Electricity is first Generated (G) then
Transmitted (T) over long distances and finally Distributed
(D) to consumers. In this process of GTD energy losses take
place. Energy loss is defined as the difference between
energy generated and billed on consumers on consumption
[1-2]. There are three types of losses, namely Technical,
Administrative and Theft incorporated with transmission
and distribution of electricity [3-7].
Technical losses are those losses which occur due to
properties of materials used in transmission and distribution
system. For example, energy dissipated due to resistance of
conductor used in supply lines. It also includes Dielectric
losses, Induction and radiation losses. These losses can be

Fig.1. Saving in demand peak after implementation of

Smart Metering System
 II. Evolution of Smart Meters Area Network (WAN) medium, including PSTN telephone
Being a limited and very important resource the lines, GSM, X-25 packet switched radio and microwave
metering of electricity consumption is essential. Generally links [11-13].
people don’t care for the consumption of electricity in their C. Meter Data Management (MDM): It should be able to
day to day processes and are concerned about it when they collect at least following information.
get their electricity bills or in case of power shortage.
• Meter registrations: serial numbers, meter types,
Measuring of electricity consumption was started with location and programmed data.
Electromechanical Induction meter which operates by • Local Data Concentrators (LDCs): location, serial
counting the revolutions of a metal disc rotating at a speed numbers and programmed functions.
proportional to the power. The number of revolutions is • Meter data extraction: Customer details, Customer
proportional to the energy usage. Later in 1990s Electronic transaction records, Peak demand and load curve
meter was introduced which use LED or LCD displays and • Tariff structures and prices, Invoice generation,
can also transmit readings to remote places but they could maintenance and Payment transaction records
use only one sided communication. This process is also • Error logs and message texts, System activity and
referred as Automated Meter Reading. Further to improve maintenance logs.
the communication between utility and costumers and for • System administration records.
time wise billing first generation of Smart meter was The architecture of the smart meter is shown on Fig. 2.
introduced in 2005.
Smart meters are the new generation devices which are Data Central Control
used by utilities for electronic measurement and to remotely concentrators System Center
communicate information for billing customers and
operating their electric systems. These meters can take the
Asset Billing
reading and send the information to the control office Meter and
Management
repeatedly in small time intervals. Control office can Communication
monitor the meters because a two-way communication is Hub
used in smart metering system which is commonly known
as AMI. AMI is capable of detecting power outages and
monitoring voltage profiles [9-10].
Multi Home Hand Held
Being two way communications, the consumers will utility Automation Devices
have the information about their daily electricity
consumption along with its cost and thus they will try to Fig.2. Architecture of Smart Meters
minimize it by its sensible utilization. This will also help in
protecting our valuable Mother Nature and environment. IV. Working of Smart Metering System
III. Components of Smart Metering System Smart meters operate on two-way communication
process and should have a memory segment. Two way
The main components inside smart meter are [11-13]: communication is done through Radio Frequency (RF)
A. Advanced Measuring Device: It consists of the following mesh networking or PLC [14-15], allowing the creation of
LAN and WAN. DLC can be used as WAN for meter
• A small transformer that steps down the voltage to reading, tariff & programming updates and for load control.
10V ac PLC can be used as Home Area network (HAN) for home
• A microprocessor core, a real-time clock, flash automation and short range communication. Such mesh
memory, and an LCD driver networks allowed the AMI to have a data collector hub that
• A low power dual operational amplifier and a would then transmit the collected data via GSM, broadband
medium power amplifier IC or another means from an end user to the utility office. This
• Around 1 GHz SOC with a microcontroller and some customer data was then transacted automatically into
bytes of flash memory customer billing. The AMI capable meters also includes a
• Time differentiated registers, Connect/disconnect HAN, such as Zigbee.
switch and LCD/LED display
The most suitable way of communication is through RF.
• In home display: It is a device which details the usage
The typical memory footprint to support RF LAN/WAN is
of data in a graphical and user friendly manner.
around 256 KB whereas Zigbee is around 128 KB of
B. Communication Network Management: embedded flash memory. These requirements will rise
Electricity meter communicates with LDCs using the significantly in near future [10, 12, 14]. If same mesh
low voltage power supply cables between the meters and network is also used to provide firmware updates for smart
the transformers which come under Local Area Networks meters then MCUs should have dual banks of flash memory.
(LANs) and it is used for short distance communication. This dual bank architecture allows the meter to run
Communications between LDCs and the Central System continuously. The block diagram of smart meter working is
Controller may be provided virtually by any standard Wide shown in Fig. 3 [16].
 Fig.3. Block Diagram of Smart Meter

The working of some of the blocks is detailed below. (SAR), Flash (Parallel) andd Half Flash, Integrating (Dual
Slope), Voltage to Frequencyy and Sigma Delta (Σ-∆).
A. Power Source
A two line connection is provided to every
e consumer Σ-∆ ADC is generally usse because it overcomes most of
comprising neutral line and load line. Theree are many ways the disadvantages of other syystems. In this system ADC can
in which a meter can work, one of which is mentioned
m here. be combined with DSP functtions on one mixed signal VLSI
For supplying power to the system a recttifier is needed, chip. This has very low resoolution at a very high sampling
which can be a combination of four diodes as shown in rate. By using over-samplingg techniques in conjunction with
figure 2. The rectified signal is then transmmitted to PWM noise shaping and digital filttering, the effective resolution is
and AC/DC through a MOSFET circuit. Thhe main work of increased. The processed signal
s is then transferred to a
PWM is primary side regulation along with special features MCU for utility or other endd customer calibration purposes
of HV Start-up, Input Line Monitoring, Leading Edge [17].
Blanking, Light Load Efficiency, Low Power and Soft Start. C. Application Processor
B. Metrology An application processoor is required to interface with
The current flowing in the load line is allowed to pass home appliances and automaation. It can be an ARM cortex
through a resistance in order to measure readding. For proper A8 microprocessor with onne of the following operating
and cost efficient reading system, analog siggnal needs to be systems Linux, Android or windows
w embedded CE. Its main
converted to digital signal. For this purppose Analog to function is to connect vending machines, building
Digital Converter (ADC) is used. Samples or “snap shots” automation.
of the analog signals at discrete instances of
o time and then V. RF Exposure in
i Smart Metering System
converted to numeric values using ADC. Thhere are various
types of ADC, some of them are: Successivee Approximation One major threat in impplementation of smart metering
system is its radiations. Thhis system generally uses RF
radiations for wireless communications. RF radiation causes Similarly, In Victoria state things went wrong in the
two types of effects, thermal and non-thermal. Out of these deployment of smart meters. The lessons that it has taught,
two, thermal effects are injurious to human health [18]. have led to a turnaround of affairs and the state is currently
looked upon as an example of the benefits that can be
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an gained from smart meters [27].
organization which keeps a check on RF radiation
producing devices which are harmful for environment and India is a price sensitive market and if consumers are told
human health. According to FCC Smart meter comes under that using electrical equipment during non-peak hours will
the low power, unlicensed criteria as the radiations are very cost less, they will shift their usage accordingly. This will
less and not a serious issue to health. FCC has imposed a help the consumers in reducing their bills and the
limit on Maximum Permissible Error (MPE). MPE values distribution companies in managing the rush therefore
are measured by taking an average of RF exposure on preventing grid collapses. According to World bank’s
different parts of body as all the parts are at different energy specialist, in developing countries like India the cost
distance from the meter and thus power is different at of deployment of smart meters can go high because of
various parts. RF exposure to a person at 3 to10 feet away geographical structure but the benefits will still be huge
from a continuously operating smart meter is 125 to 1250 because they will minimize the energy theft. The Indian
times less as compared to a person talking on a cell phone. government and other utilities are taking various initiatives
The measurements have shown that RF exposure behind towards implanting smart meters, few of them are:
meter sockets is lesser as compared to in front of the • In January, WBSEDCL, an Indian utility looking to
sockets. Apart from this, the location of the meter, distance modernize its aging infrastructure, selected
from the transmitter, shielding by meter enclosures, Landis+Gyr, a multinational corporation, to deliver
attenuation of building materials, direction of RF emissions 1.5 million smart meters, believed to be the single
and limited duty cycles (The percentage of time a RF device largest electric meter order in India. The project is
is in operation is called the duty cycle) also decreases RF expected to be over by 2013.
exposure and thus in short RF exposure due to smart meters • Ami Tech (India) Pvt. Ltd. is designing a 3-phase
is not significantly harmful to health [19-23]. smart energy meter to cater to the needs of Indian
VI. Case Studies smart grid requirements.
In Southern California a retail store was selected as a • Itron inaugurated its first Smart Metering Lab and
part of an energy management initiative that involves Knowledge Center in Noida at Itron India. The centre
equipping the store with smart meter. Usually the owner showcases and demonstrates its smart metering and
was much tensed about increasing electricity bill. With AMI solutions. It will benefit local utilities,
smart meter she was able to monitor her electricity usage government officials and other groups by sharing
and to reduce the bill. At the end of the year it was found insights and knowledge.
that the store consumed about 1562 kWh lower than the
previous year and a lot of money around $185 was saved. VII. Benefits of Smart Metering System
The deployment cost of smart meters in California per Smart metering has many advantages like it collects
connection is around $193.7. Expected Maintenance cost of time-wise consumption readings, can control the amount of
these meters is $4 per year. Therefore, they will make a power given to a particular house and can be used to lower
significant amount of profit in coming years. Apart from the losses due to theft. The various merits of smart meter
this, 844lbs CO2 emissions were also reduced which further over traditional meters are listed below
save the environment [24-25]. A comparison of various types of meters is also made
and presented in Table II.
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)
required California’s large investor owned utilities (IOUs ) A. From Consumers point of view
to file AMI applications and required a demonstration that • The system provides rapid access to all customer
AMI systems could produce net customer benefits. Initially, transaction and payment records which allow with
it was found that AMI was not cost-effective for its quick and efficient solution of customer.
customers, but AMI technological improvements in 2005
• Day to day bill is available and thus effective load
and 2006 led to the SmartConnect application in 2007,
management by using appliances at off peak hours
which forecasted a very slim margin of lifetime net benefits
which will also result in lesser bill.
on a present value basis. Table I shows the nominal costs
and benefits of SmartConnect Program [26] • No unscheduled power cuts and instead of complete
black out some electricity can be provided to every
Table I. Nominal Costs and Benefits (in millions) of Smart Meter
customer which can be used for running some
Deployment Program in California important appliances as in case of inverters. This will
minimize use of inverters, their charging burden and
Deployment Post deployment Total
battery problems.
2007-2012 2013-2032
Benefits $437.6 $6999.7 $7437.3 • Any tampering with meter is immediately reported to
Costs $1633.5 $1582.1 $3215.6 central control. It will reduce theft so tariff rates will
Net Benefits -$1195.5 $5417.6 $4221.7 go down
 • Due to remote reading, no need for site visits and • Efficiency of inverters is very low and replacement of
hence increases customer’s privacy [28-29]. their batteries causes environmental pollution. As
• Provides easy pre-payment facility. smart metering system can help in providing a
• LCD display can be programmed to display various substitute to inverters and thus it saves energy and
facilities including amount of credit left on pre- environment.
payment system [30].
VIII. Challenges in Implementation of AMI
B. From Electrical Companies point of view
• Geographical area of India is very large with vast
• Provides power consumption profile data from climatic condition which creates difficulty in wireless
individual and groups of meters to facilitate energy communication as impedance matching has to be
management, load research and tariff development. applied at various places [33-34]
• Provides a low voltage network monitoring system to • Slow decision making & Implementation
allow supply outages to be quickly identified resulting • Change of mindset and awareness of common public
in better reliability and improved service levels [31]. as well as utilities
• Provides a sophisticated energy loss detection system • Dedicated prioritized Data communication channel for
to identify losses to individual LV feeder level [31]. Utility Operations by NSP.
• The individual meter reading can be channeled • Regulatory frame-work which rewards for un-
directly up to the local substation and then to the interrupted quality services.
customer headquarters using a PSTN/GSM or radio. • The first phase is to replace traditional meters with
This eliminates need for site visit to read the meter smart meters but location of meters inside the house
and reduces the human labor [28-29]. creates difficulty in proper implementation
• Any tampering of system is immediately reported to • Difficult to establish Home/Local area
central control system. This will reduce losses [32]. Communication through concrete walls.
• Provides a mechanism for the implementation of • Being various utility providers, varying
Demand-Side Management initiatives involving expectations/requirements from utility to utility.
multi-rate tariffs and load control. This improves • No systematic planned approach for implementation
energy efficiency and reduces emissions. of smart metering system.
• Billing will be fast and easy with the help of • Lesser technical work force For mass deployment
automated software controlled billing system. • Control commands & other data formats should be
• For reasons of credit control, load management, or interoperable with AMI infrastructure.
load shedding, the meter can be set to disconnect at a • Initially a large investment is required. Benefit would
pre-set load or total energy usage and this will prevent accrue only after successful implementation.
grid failure by overload [31].
• Higher Cost of the smart meters
TABLE II. Comparison of Smart Meter with Traditional Meters • Management of Terabytes of data collected in small
interval of time and maintaining privacy of this data.
Property Electro- Digital Meter Smart Meter • Acceptance of variable tariff to Low end consumer.
Mechanical
Meter IX. Conclusions
Accuracy low High Very high
Theft detection low Possible at node Possible at This paper reviews numerous key aspects of smart
level network level metering. Several challenges, requirements and issues in
Communication Manual One way Two way design, development, and maintenance of the smart meter
reading communication communication systems are discussed. Smart metering is a good technology
Control No limited full which monitors electricity pilferage and power losses. This
Consumer nil Less high technique makes the user better informed and careful about
Participation consumption, billing and power outages etc. This
Time Wise no After a fix according to technology will allow variable tariff implementation which
Reading interval requirement enables the customer to use appliances during off peak load
Day to day Not possible Not possible Possible hours. This will increase people participation in saving
billing info energy and environment thus the increasing electricity
C. From the point of view of environment and government demand issue may be addressed to a certain extent without
actually establishing new power plants. The implementation
• As the peak requirement decreases, requirement of of smart metering technique requires improvement in the
new power plants also reduces leading to decreased current metering infrastructure. Focus should be on
greenhouse gas emissions. developing better control strategies, sensors and other
• Energy efficiency is improved because proper components to minimize the cost. A mass awareness
detection of energy loss. program should be conducted to literate people about energy
• Automated reading system reduces field trips and issues and encourage them for proper metering of
vehicle emissions. electricity.
 REFERENCES [25] www.emeter.com/wp-content/uploads2010/06/smart-meter-cost-
chart.
[1] N. Mohan, T.M. Undeland and W.P. Robbins, “ Power Electronic
Converters, Applications and Design”, 2nd Edition, John Wiley and [26] K. Hieta, V. Kao, and T. Roberts, “Case Study of Smart Meter
sons inc., New York, 1995 Deployment: Recommendations for Ensuring Ratepayer Benefits”,
March 2012.
[2] “Methodology for Establishing Baseline AT&C Losses”, Power
Finance Corporation Limited, India, September, 2009. [27] http://www.budde.com.au/Research/Australia-Smart-Meters-in-
Victoria-Case-Study.
[3] http://www.silicon.ac.in/sitbbsr/nwetmaterials/Power-Distribution-
Losses.pdf [28] A. Vojdani, “Smart Integration,” IEEE Power and Energy Magazine,
Vol. 6, pp. 71-79, Nov. 2008.
[4] J.P Navani, N.K. Sharma and S. Sapra “Technical and Non-Technical
[29] D.G. Hart, “Using AMI to Realize the Smart Grid,” Proc. IEEE PES
Losses in Power System and its Economic Consequence in Indian
General Meeting - Conversion and Delivery of Electrical Energy,
Economy”, International Journal of Electronics and Computer
Pittsburgh, PA, pp. 1-2, July 2008.
Science Engineering, Vol.1, No. 2, pp. 757-761, 2012.
[5] Energy statistics 2012, Nineteenth Issue, Central Statistics Office , [30] J. Cowburn, “Paying for Energy the Smart Way,” IEE Review, Vol.
47, pp. 17-20, July 2001.
Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation, Govt. of India,
New Delhi, March 2012. [31] A. Mahmood, M. Aamir and M.I. Anis, “Design and implementation
[6] S. S. Mustafa, M.H. Yasen and H.H. Abdullah, “Evaluation of of AMR Smart Grid System”, Proc. IEEE Canada Electric Power
Conference, Vancouver, Canada, pp. 6-7, Oct. 2008.
Electric Energy Losses in Kirkuk Distribution Electric System Area”,
Iraqi Journal of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Vol.7, No.2, [32] S.S. Depuru, L. Wang and V. Devabhaktuni, “A Conceptual Design
pp.144-150, 2011. using Harmonics to Reduce Pilfering of Electricity,” IEEE PES
General Meeting, Minneapolis, MA, July 2010.
[7] P. Kadurek et al., “Theft Detection and Smart Metering Practices and
Expectations in the Netherlands” Proc. IEEE PES Innovative Smart [33] http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2009/prod_051809.html
Grid Technologies Conf. Europe (ISGT Europe), pp. 1–6, 2010. [34] I. Lane, J.J. Hoogenboezem and G.J. Delport, “The Present and
[8] H.O. Bansal, S. Mohan and H.P. Agrawal, “A Critical Analysis of Future of National Electricity Demand”, Domestic use of Electrical
Distributed Generation and its Implications”, International Energy Conference, 1997.
Conference on Renewable Energy, Jaipur, 2011.
[9] http://blog.vitria.com/bid/91948/The-Evolution-Benefits-of-Smart-
Meters
[10] http://www.powerengineeringint.com/articles/print/volume-19/issue-
5/features/the-evolution-of-smart-meters-towards-a-supersmart-
grid.html
[11] Smart Meters and Smart Meter Systems: A Metering Industry
Perspective, an EEI-AEIC-UTC White Paper, Published by Edison
Electric Institute, Pennsylvania, 2011.
[12] Smart meter deserves smart Components [Online Available]:
http://www.murata.eu/amr-ami.html
[13] Smart Metering Equipment Technical Specifications, A report
published by Department of Energy and Climate Change, 3 Whitehall
Place, London.
[14] Y.S. Son et al., “Home Energy Management System based on Power
Line Communication,” IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronic,
Vol. 56, pp. 1380 – 1386, Aug. 2010.
[15] M. Huczala, T. Lukl, and J. Misurec, “Capturing Energy Meter Data
Over Secured Power Line,” Proc. International Conference on
Communication Technology, Guilin, China, pp. 1- 4, Nov. 2006.
[16] http://www.ti.com/solution/docs/appsolution.tsp?appId=407.
[17] A. Collins, “Solid State Solutions for Electricity Metrology”, IEE
Conference on Metering and Tariffs for Energy Supply, Publication
No. 462, 25-28 May 1999.
[18] Health Impacts of Radio Frequency (RF) from Smart Meters, a report,
California Council on Science and Technology (CCST), April 2011.
[19] K.D. Craemer and G. Deconinck, “Analysis of State-of-the-art Smart
Metering Communication Standards”, Proc. IEEE 5th YRS 2010.
[20] A Discussion of Smart Meters and RF Exposure Issues, an EEI-
AEIC-UTC White Paper, Published by Edison Electric Institute,
Pennsylvania, March 2011.
[21] An Investigation of Radio Frequency Fields Associated with the Itron
Smart Meter, Technical Report published by EPRI, December 2010.
[22] Evaluating Compliance with FCC Guidelines for Human Exposure to
Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields, Federal Communications
Commission, Office of Engineering & Technology Bulletin 65,
Edition 97-01, Nov. 1997.
[23] Wireless Transmissions: An Examination of Open Way Smart Meter
Transmissions in a 24 hour Duty Cycle, Itron Inc, Note 2, pp.6, 2011.
[24] J. A. Castro, “Advanced Energy Management: A Look into IDR
Smart Meters”, Energy Engineering, Vol.110, No.1, pp.33-40, 2013.

View publication stats