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V
OLUME
4,
I
SSUE
5
ISSN: 2054 -7420
S
OCIETY FOR
S
CIENCE AND
E
DUCATION
UNITED KINGDOM
TRANSACTIONS ON
NETWORKS AND COMMUNICATIONS
TNC
Smart Metering for Intelligent Buildings
Natasa Zivic, Obaid Ur-Rehman and Christoph Ruland
Chair for Data Communications Systems, University of Siegen, Germany
natasa.zivic@uni-siegen.de, obaid.ur-rehman@uni-siegen.de, christoph.ruland@uni-siegen.de
ABSTRACT
Intelligent buildings are based on the use of smart metering devices. Smart metering provides
instantaneous and accumulative metering information to the service providers on electricity, gas, water
etc. This information is also given to the customers for the purpose of reduction of costs, energy
consumption and emission of CO2. The customers’ saving of energy can be adapted dynamically using
smart metering devices: this helps that the power generation and consumption are equally distributed in
the smart grid. Liberalization of the metering market requires few strong security and privacy
requirements for the metering data. Governmental organizations are responsible for the permanent
correct delivery of metering data and are able to control and maintain the metering devices. The status
of current smart metering progress in different countries is given in the paper with examples of
successfully managed smart metering projects.
Keywords: Smart Metering, Smart Grids, Liberalization of Energy and Metering Market, Smart Meter
Communications and Protocols, Security and Privacy, Smart Metering Projects.
1 Smart Metering Systems
1.1 Smart meter
A smart meter is a device installed at the consumer’s premises (house or a facility) for measuring the
consumption of commodities such as gas, water and electricity. The consumption of commodities can be
measured in terms of volume or energy, e.g., gallons of water, cubic feet of gas or kilowatt hours of
electricity. Smart meters are an advanced form of the traditional electromechanical devices with the
ability to measure consumption of commodities in real-time and with the ability to communicate over
one or more wired or wireless networks. They are equipped with digital displays for displaying the
consumption of commodities and communication units for communication over a network. Nowadays,
an energy importer / consumer can be an exporter / producer at the same time. The smart meters should
therefore be capable to measure the amount of energy exported as well as imported.
1.2 Smart metering
The term smart metering is different from smart meters. Smart meter is a device that measures and
possibly stores the consumption of a commodity. Smart metering, on the other hand, is referred to the
whole infrastructure including smart meters, communication networks/infrastructure between the smart
DOI: 10.14738/tnc.45.2234
Publication Date: 10th October 2016
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/tnc.45.2234
Natasa Zivic, Obaid Ur-Rehman and Christoph Ruland; Smart Metering for Intelligent Buildings, Transactions on
Networks and Communications, Volume 4 No. 5, October (2016); pp:25-47
meters and other concerned entities such as the energy consumer, the meter operator, the supplier of
energy or the utility and the meter data management systems.
If smart metering is integrated in building management systems (BMS), automatic functions can be
enabled or operators may be warned when peak use approaches critical price thresholds or system
constraints. Data from smart meters (both real-time and near real-time) can be used to highlight
anomalies, identify energy wasting equipment and may be used to offer improvements. They will not only
be helpful for the end consumer to identify and remedy the sources of high energy consumption but also
help the utility to identify the times of high energy demands and sources of energy wastage.
Smart metering should support:
• Acquisition, processing and communication of commodity consumption.
• Storage of consumption status and demand requirement over time.
• In house display for displaying the real-time consumption status. Such a display is normally in-
room (not in the basement), and helps the consumer to monitor and control the energy
consumption.
• Communication of the consumption measurements in real-time (or almost real-time) to the
utility. This data is later used for billing and accounting.
• Bi-directional communication capability with the remote end such as the meter operator. This
allows the meter operator to control the meter without physical visits to the consumer’s
premises. This may also allow the download / update of software or firmware so that new services
and protocols can be supported.
• Remote connection or disconnection of energy.
• Load limitation in case of high energy demand in peak hours.
• Scalability and interoperability, so that multiple vendors can be supported.
• Reduction of energy wastage and load control.
• Building load profiles and load schedules.
• Security and privacy of consumer data, e.g., using access control, confidentiality and
authentication.
Figure 1. Multi Utility Communication (MUC) for measurements relay
1.3 Need for smart metering - load profiles and remote readout
A load profile is a plot of the variation in the energy demand versus time. The load profile is useful for
power generation companies where it is required to know, in advance, how much energy will be required
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/tnc.45.2234 26
Transactions on Networks and Communications; Volume 4, Issue 5, October 2016
at a certain time period or over certain duration of time. Such information is extremely important to
ensure the availability and reliability of power transmissions to meet the energy demands. The load
profiles were traditionally maintained manually by measuring the energy consumption of customers on
monthly basis, e.g., based on manual monthly meter readings. The energy suppliers’ obligations are
however settled on hourly or sub-hourly basis, whereas the demand may vary on hourly basis and the
load profiles must be built with high probability of demand predictability in mind. Recently, with the
introduction of modern electrical devices and due to the ever growing demands of energy, the load
profiles need to be refined to a smaller interval in order for better delivery and availability of power
supply. Load profiles can be split into categories on the basis of seasons, e.g., one profile for summer and
another one for winter. Load profiles can also be refined up to the days of months, or for weekdays and
weekends, holidays etc. One can even refine them to load profiles for hours in a day to predict the peak
energy demand times.
Smart metering is a helpful tool, suitable in this situation. With their ability to remotely transmit the
consumption in real-time, smart meters can help in building load profiles to fine grained intervals. Thus
the need for manual monthly recordings of energy consumption is reduced to automated real-time
demand gathering.
Smart metering also helps in reducing time and costs involved in visits to each and every customer’s
premises and to record the energy consumption status. This is now done via the ability of remote readout
(either automatic or activated transmission of the consumption of the measurements).
1.4 Billing and accounting
Smart metering helps in improved and fine grained billing and is in fact the first application of smart
metering. Traditionally, customer billing has been done on a monthly or yearly basis, based on one or two
fixed tariff(s). With the availability of real-time (or almost real-time) consumption information, the billing
can be improved and done on the basis of actual commodity consumption. Smart metering also makes
the task of accounting more convenient by being able to store the commodity consumption over a period
of time and with the ability to charge the customer as per actual consumption and on the basis of more
flexible tariffs as compared to fixed monthly tariffs. This helps in the reduction of the billing conflicts
between the consumer and the provider.
1.5 Customer awareness
With the increasing growth of the demand for energy, efforts on customer awareness need to be
increased on the issues such as:
• The insufficient energy production capabilities
• Link of energy consumption to pollution and
• Threats to health in case of natural disasters from certain sources of energy
This is now possible due to smart metering and using the concept of smart billing. The consumer is
empowered to actively participate in the demand response process. With the help of feedback and
suggestions, the consumer is made aware of the actual consumption and by involving him in the process,
the need for energy can be reduced. Governments have taken steps in this regard and the need for energy
has been reduced by certain percentages around the world.
Copyright © Society for Science and Education United Kingdom 27
Natasa Zivic, Obaid Ur-Rehman and Christoph Ruland; Smart Metering for Intelligent Buildings, Transactions on
Networks and Communications, Volume 4 No. 5, October (2016); pp:25-47
A thorough analysis of the impact of feedback and smart billing on the reduction of energy consumption
is given in [5], where the authors used the following key performance indicators in their analysis:
• Improvement in the awareness of energy consumption
• Reduction of energy consumption
• Reduction in energy bills
• Aggregated impact on national energy consumption
• Cost effectiveness
• Impact on customer relationship
The case studies in [5] were conducted in the following countries or states,
• USA-California
• Republic of Ireland
• Sweden
• Australia-Victoria
• UAE-Abu Dhabi
• Chile
• South Africa
• PRC-Hong Kong
In conclusion to the case studies reviewed in the report [5], smart bills were declared as responsible for
the reduction of household electricity consumption between 1.1% and 2.7%. The corresponding reduction
of gas consumption was between 2.2% and 2.8%.
1.6 For whom is smart metering beneficial?
Smart metering is mutually beneficial for many stake holders. Some of the potential users of the smart
metering data are listed in Table 1 along with the potential uses of the data gathered by smart metering
systems.
Table 1. Need for smart metering data
Who is interested in smart metering data?
How could the data be used?
Utilities
• To monitor electricity usage and load
• To be able to do accurate billing
•
Generation of load profiles
Electricity usage advisory companies
• To promote energy conservation
• Customer awareness
Insurance companies
•
To determine health care premiums based on unusual
behaviors that might indicate illness
Marketing companies
• To profile customers for targeted advertisements
• To find out suitable advertisement times
Law enforcing agencies
• To identify suspicious or illegal activities
Civil litigators
•
To identify the property boundaries
•
To identify activities on premises
Landlords
•
To verify lease compliance
•
To identify any unwanted activity
Private investigators
• To monitor energy consumers for specific activities
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/tnc.45.2234 28
Transactions on Networks and Communications; Volume 4, Issue 5, October 2016
The press
•
To get information about celebrities and other famous
people
•
To report illegal activities
Creditors
• To determine behavior that might indicate creditworthiness
Criminals
• To identify the best times for a burglary
• To identify expensive equipment / appliances to steal
2 Services of Smart Metering
2.1 Transparent energy usage
Smart Meters are envisaged to provide many services to the consumer as well as the utilities. First of all
they provide the customer with the ability to measure their energy consumption. A customer is able to
see the energy consumption in real time using a screen (In Home Display - IHD) installed at his or her
premises. This gives the customer fine grained control over the resources he consumes and gives him the
ability to save energy and stay inside his budget. This also gives the customer the ability to decide when
to use most of the energy, e.g., choosing between day and night tariffs. The customer also has the ability
to transparently switch from one utility to the other.
Smart Metering also come with new functionalities for the utilities. A utility can measure almost real time
energy consumption of a certain customer or the aggregated energy consumption over a certain area.
This enables the utility to offer different tariff schedules, e.g., one for the day time and another for the
night time. The utility can also monitor the energy theft, e.g., by controlling how much energy goes in and
how much is paid for in a certain area being monitored.
The utility also gets the ability to control the energy consumption in certain premises. In peak demand
hours, the utility will have the ability to kill the unnecessary energy consumption by certain devices, e.g.,
a heater, when it should not be running after a certain temperature has been reached or the outside
temperature has fallen down. Such a heater should have the ability to communicate with the utility
through a Smart Meter.
Figure 2. An example chart of energy consumption in a typical household, over a period of 24 hours
2.2 Advanced Smart Metering for Energy Saving
Energy efficiency has been a long-pursued goal spanning all fields of human activities. At first, these
activities have not considered user involvement, focusing mainly on the technology efficiency (e.g., light
bulbs). The interest in this topic has been produced by energy crisis and climate change. In this respect,
Copyright © Society for Science and Education United Kingdom 29
Natasa Zivic, Obaid Ur-Rehman and Christoph Ruland; Smart Metering for Intelligent Buildings, Transactions on
Networks and Communications, Volume 4 No. 5, October (2016); pp:25-47
the European Union has long been a driving force in international negotiations on climate. In 2007 EU
leaders endorsed an integrated approach to climate and energy policy and committed to transforming
Europe into a highly energy-efficient, low-carbon economy. Likewise, energy providers, having realized
that they have to face a change in doing business, are now actively involved in energy-saving initiatives
and the provision of value-added services for customers. However, users (the last link in the chain who
have higher potential for an impact), in spite of all their efforts, are still not aware of the need to change
and have not enough incentives for initiating the change.
All these changes have caused the manifestation of more ambitious energy-saving objectives, which can
only be achieved by involving users and targeting changes regarding energy consumption and energy
provision. Until recently, however, the tools for involving users in the rational use of energy have been
limited to general messages and public awareness campaigns, which (even if successful) cannot match the
needed level of change in the users’ conduct. That is the reason for new forms of relations between users
and their consumption of energy, for higher levels of efficiency and awareness.
The promotion of pro-environmental behavior through different intervention strategies has a long
tradition in social and environmental psychology. Intervention programs have been developed since the
1970s, to promote household energy saving, recycling, the use of public transport etc. But the potential
of these traditional strategies is limited because of the financial and human resources needed to carry
them out on a large scale. Some studies point out that the reasons for new environmental behavior vary
very much, ranging from economic, to social, political or health motivations apart from purely
environmental reasons, but these other interests are often ignored. However, recent studies have shown
that the key factor making people adopt pro-environmental behavior is collective exposure and
awareness.
Besides, the type of representation used for feedback is also influential. If it is too obvious and explicit,
for an example, it may be taken as too personal and direct, or ‘in your face’, resulting in objections. An
alternative approach is providing simple anonymous but striking representations to lure people’s
attention. Thus, people can think of various available choices and even public debates on the issues can
be promoted. On the other hand, if the representation is too abstract and implicit, it may be attributed
other meanings (e.g., as an art performance), resulting in people ignore it. The solution is possibly in-
between but the ways of making these displays effective and embedded in the environment are still open
questions.
Some of the reasons for the failure or overall slow market adoption of the previous systems for energy
management and smart metering are the threats to security and privacy (explicitly identified as
controversial in the case of Power Meter, Green OS or some Smart Meters). They are considered to be
the most important barrier to the acceptance of those systems. The fact is that security and privacy are
really basic factors in any practical system affecting users’ activities in everyday life. Failure to protect the
users’ privacy and security would immediately disqualify otherwise good solutions for practical
applications.
These general requirements are especially significant for the smart home control systems, as they are
installed in the most important privacy refuge, our homes.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/tnc.45.2234 30
Transactions on Networks and Communications; Volume 4, Issue 5, October 2016
3 Communication Protocols and Standards
Due to the separate evolution process used in many regions and countries, different communication
protocols and standards have been developed for the communication between the elements of a smart
metering system. For a smart metering gateway and other smart metering devices to be able to
communicate over the WAN, HAN and the LMN networks, many open protocols are used and they should
be supported. Though the data in an LMN and HAN can be exchanged over proprietary protocols, the data
exchange over the WAN should be done using the open standards for future compatibility as it passes
through open and non proprietary systems. In Table 2, different communication protocols in use are
discussed. For a thorough analysis and list of the communication protocols and standards refer to [12].
Table 2. Communications standards and protocols for smart meters
Communication
Protocol
Short Description
IEC 61850 and
UCA 2.0
IEC 61850 is an application layer standard which is a superset of UCA 2.0 and is primarily
designed with intra-substation communication in mind [13]. It can also be used between
substations or control centers (IEC 62445-1 and -2) and for metering applications. All
services and models are designed in an abstract form called the ACSI (Abstract
Communication Service Interface) and therefore independent of the underlying medium.
ACSI can be mapped to TCP/IP over Ethernet. Part 7-420 added to IEC 61850 in 2009 covers
distributed energy sources and storage and could even be used for V2G (Vehicle to grid)
activities.
IEC 61334 PLC
Part 5 of the 61334 suite of standards defines several narrowband PLC (Power Line
Communication) systems. Part 5-1 S-FSK is the most widely used. Because the allowed
frequency range (3 kHz to 148.5 kHz in Europe), transmission power and the bandwidth is
small [14], its suitability for (e.g.,) TCP/IP communication is limited. A typical PLC system
consists of a backbone-coupled concentrator close to a MV/LV transformer. All traffic on
the line is initiated by the concentrator, which acts as a “local relay” for a management
center.
IEC 62056-21 /
IEC 61107
The IEC 62056-21 standard is sometimes referred to as “Flag” or by its old name IEC 1107
[15]. Part 21 “direct local data exchange” describes
software protocols and hardware
suitable for data exchange with utility meters [16]. As one of the first meter data exchange
standards, IEC 62056-21 is widely used
today. However it does not use a data model or
uniform memory mapping. Therefore meter communication requires manufacturer
specific information, limiting interchangeability.
SITRED /
Telegestore
In the beginning of the 90s [17], ENEL (which is Italy’s largest distribution company),
developed a transmission system called SITRED to read and manage meters remotely. A
large test proved that remote management via the LV network was technically viable but
the use of Ferraris meters was not cost effective enough. At the end of 90s, technology had
advanced enough and ENEL concluded that changing all the low voltage meters for
electronic ones would soon be profitable.
In October 1999, the Telegestore project was started [18]. At the consumer side fully
electronic meters communicate with a concentrator close to a transformer via PLC. The
concentrator communicates with the acquisition center through an access server using
GSM, PSTN or satellite. Two communication protocols (using PLC) are used: an enhanced
version of LonTalk and more recently
ENEL reintroduced its proprietary SITRED protocol
that was used in the original project. SITRED uses a simple narrowband FSK-based solution
that is relatively reliable throughout their whole
diverse grid, reducing the cost of
transceivers and coupling devices but limiting the attainable speed to about 2400 baud.
Copyright © Society for Science and Education United Kingdom 31
Natasa Zivic, Obaid Ur-Rehman and Christoph Ruland; Smart Metering for Intelligent Buildings, Transactions on
Networks and Communications, Volume 4 No. 5, October (2016); pp:25-47
LonTalk and SITRED differ in the PHY and MAC layers but the same proprietary application
layer is used on top of both, ensuring transparency for the acquisition center.
SML (Sym2
project)
The Smart Message Language [19] is a communication protocol for data acquisition and
parameterization developed by the German utility companies RWE, EON and EnBW. The
main idea is a simple structure usable in low-power embedded devices. The application
layer defines a file and document structure to transmit data between the measuring point
and a collection center. Both push and pull operations are supported. For the presentation
layer, SML provides two options: readable XML encoding or more efficient SML binary
coding. In typical metering applications SML messages will then be
transported using
TCP/UDP over IP networks. But for serial links such as GSM/PSTN or direct readout the SML
transport protocol is available. SML is tailored specifically towards electricity metering and
has to be viewed alongside the SyM2 project.
EN 13757 / M-
Bus and
Wireless M-Bus
EN 13757 (Meter bus) is a European standard [20] for the remote interaction with the
utility meters and various sensors and actuators. It was developed at the University of
Paderborn in Germany. M-Bus uses a reduced OSI layer stack. Its part 2 describes the
physical and link layers; part 3 describes the application layer [21] and part 4 defines the
Wireless M-Bus standard. Primary focus of the standard is on simple, low-cost, battery
powered devices. Noteworthy is the support for Device Language Message Specification
(DLMS) and its Companion Specification for Energy Metering (COSEM) in the lower layers.
The DSMR (Dutch Smart Meter Requirements) [22] specifies wired and wireless M-Bus as
the means of communication between a metering installation and other (gas, water, ...)
meters, though with improved security (AES instead of DES).
DLMS/COSEM
or IEC 62056
DLMS (integrated in IEC 62056 [23]) stands for Device Language Message Specification and
is an application layer protocol, specifying general concepts for the modeling of object-
related services, communication entities and protocols.
Companion Specification for Energy Metering (COSEM)
comprises metering specific
objects based on Object Identification System (OBIS) codes for use with (x) DLMS. xDLMS
is an extension to DLMS and describes how to access attributes and methods of COSEM
objects.
DLMS/COSEM is based on a client/server structure in which the data collection system acts
as a client requesting data from the servers (pull operation), in this case the meters.
IEC 62056-31
”Euridis”
Euridis [24] is a standard for remote and local meter reading introduced at the beginning
of the 90s. In 1999, it was integrated into IEC 62056 as part 31. Euridis uses a twisted pair
cabling system which acts as a local bus onto which all meters in a building can be linked.
A magnetic coupler then allows connecting a handheld unit for readout or programming.
The bus can be up to 500m or 100 devices and allows a data rate of 1200 baud half-duplex.
The scope of Euridis is the local meter reading.
KNX
KNX is the result of the joint effort of Batibus, EIB and EHS. These three European consortia
work on home and building control. KNX was made into standard ISO/IEC 14543-3-x in
November 2006. KNX provides application models
for distributed automation,
configuration and management
schemes, device profiles and a communication system
(media and protocol stack). Possible communication media are twisted pair cabling, RF,
IP/Ethernet and/or PLC. Each bus device has some sort of certified BCU (Bus coupler unit)
that is typically flush mounted for switches, displays and sensors. To manage network
resources, KNX uses both point-to-point and multicast communication.
KNX aims to provide a complete solution for home and building automation and is backed
by a lot of manufacturers worldwide. It must be noted that most KNX success stories about
reduced energy consumption involve a complex interaction of KNX enabled boilers,
lighting, etc. making the installation costs very high, especially for retrofitting.
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Transactions on Networks and Communications; Volume 4, Issue 5, October 2016
ZigBee (Smart
Energy Profile)
ZigBee is a low-power wireless communications technology designed for monitoring and
control of devices, and is maintained and published by the ZigBee Alliance [6]. Home
automation is one of the key market areas. Zigbee works on top of the IEEE 802.15.4
standard, in the unlicensed 2.4 GHz 5 or 915/868 MHz bands. An important feature of
ZigBee is the possibility to handle mesh-networking, thereby extending the range and
making a Zigbee network self-healing. The Zigbee Smart Energy Profile (numbered 0x0109)
was defined in cooperation with the Homeplug Alliance in order to further enhance earlier
HAN (Home Area Network) specifications. The profile defines device descriptions for
simple meter reading, demand response, FEV charging, meter prepayment, etc.
Homeplug
(Command &
Control)
The Homeplug 1.0 standard was developed by the Homeplug Powerline Alliance in 2001
and allows communication over power lines at 14 Mbps half-duplex. In 2005,
it was
succeeded by the Homeplug AV, allowing over 100 Mbps and meant for HD multimedia
applications. In 2007, version 1.0 of Homeplug
Command & Control was announced,
providing a PHY and MAC specification for low-speed (up to 5Kbps), low-cost PLC usable in
house-control applications (lighting, HVAC, security and metering) [25].
6LoWPAN
The 6LoWPAN is a standard under development [26-27] from the IETF designed from the
ground up to be used in small sensor networks. It will be used on top of the low power
wireless (mesh) networks, specifically IEEE 802.15.4 (thus directly competing with ZigBee).
Highlights include low memory implementations, support for the Zero-Conf and Neighbor
Discovery capabilities of IPv6 and stateless header compression allowing the packets to be
as small as 4 bytes. 6LoWPAN could realize the main concept of the “Internet of Things”
by making it feasible to assign an IP address to the smallest of devices, sensors and
actuators.
DSfG (SELMA
Project)
DSfG [36] (Digitale Schnittstelle für Gasmessgeräte) is a protocol developed for
communication between gas metering devices in gas measuring and regulating stations. It
was developed in the context of SELMA project [37]. SELMA stands for Secure Electronic
Measurement Data Exchange. It is a concept for the secure transmission and storage of
energy data in an open system environment.
It provides cryptographic protection and
authentication, using digital signatures based on public key cryptography, for transmission
of gas measurements over public networks. The key distribution is done using standard
certificates. The concept is based on XML and therefore is protocol independent.
Figure 3. Elements of smart metering and the placement of a smart metering gateway and data concentrator
Copyright © Society for Science and Education United Kingdom 33
Natasa Zivic, Obaid Ur-Rehman and Christoph Ruland; Smart Metering for Intelligent Buildings, Transactions on
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4 Privacy Concerns
4.1 Security vs. Privacy
Security and privacy are not the same, although sometimes due to misconception the terms are
interchanged by novice in the field of information security. Privacy of information is extremely important
in the context of smart metering. As the information is exchanged over public networks, it is susceptible
to being seen or changed in transit by unintended people and this could have disastrous consequences
for the individuals to whom the information belonged. Privacy is viewed differently in different cultures.
Information security on the other hand addresses issues like confidentiality, integrity, authenticity, non-
repudiation and availability. Confidentiality can address the privacy by protecting the data / information
such that only the intended recipients can actually interpret the data and the non intended recipients are
not able to interpret the data, although they might be able to see it.
4.2 Privacy risks with user friendly services
There are certain problems, which can affect and reduce the benefits of smart metering systems or the
smart grid. The fine grain information on consumption / production gathered by smart meters is sufficient
to infer very precise information on an individual life. The rapid progress of data mining technology and
the integration of energy networks with other value-added services, even anonymous data can be used
for deriving private information and thus creating huge legal loopholes. Besides, in future private data
could be monitored in real-time or almost real-time, effectively transforming smart grids into a huge
global surveillance system, which is even a greater problem not only for the individuals whose data is
monitored but also for the entities responsible for maintaining the data.
These threats to security and privacy (identified as controversial in the case of Power Meter, Green OS or
some smart meters) are thought to be the greatest barrier to the acceptance of the systems. These threats
are the reason why the previous systems of energy management have failed or suffered a poor market
adoption. Security and privacy are crucial aspects in any practical system affecting users’ every-day
activities. Any failure in this respect would disqualify for practical application solutions with potentially
huge benefits both for individuals and industry participants. This is the reason why it is necessary to
balance broad data information on consumption with the need for users’ privacy protection.
As the security issues are also important to energy providers and distribution network providers, Smart
Grid will become an integrated network although with communication still using existing public network
and network nodes with unified protocols and communication stacks. A Smart Grid will be an attractive
target for various attackers and cyber criminals, terrorists and even hostile nations. The most common
cyber attacks are breaches of personal data within the network, payment fraud, ‘denial of service’ attack
on the energy delivery across a smart grid. Besides, dangerous direct attacks to providers are also possible.
For all these reasons, some countries have considered these aspects within their legal framework. In
Germany, for example, as energy consumption data is subject to privacy regulation, encryption methods
are required for data transfer and processing. In addition to this, the German Ministry for economy and
technology has asked the BSI (the federal agency for IT security) to develop a security concept and a
protection profile for the smart meter gateway. The BSI picked a hardware security controller, called the
Security Module, as an essential component for this protection profile. Moreover, the communication of
data is further protected using a Communication Module, e.g., with a Transport Layer Security (TLS)
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Transactions on Networks and Communications; Volume 4, Issue 5, October 2016
channel. In order to address the potential man-in-the-middle attacks, dual encryption is proposed, i.e.,
the data is encrypted by the application and then again for transmission over the network.
Figure 4. Attack possibilities in a smart metering system.
4.3 Anonymity protocols for smart metering
Regulatory activities which are in use now focus only on some relevant elements of the smart grid, but
they do not take into account the different processes supported by these components within the larger
smart grid infrastructure, which consists of a number of different communication devices. The measures
for privacy protection should be integrated into the design and deployment of the smart grid
infrastructure (which is a challenging task) taking into account:
1. Privacy variable nature (data available within the smart grid together with the user’s perception
will change over time)
2. Technology evolution (the introduction of new additional devices and processes and loopholes,
together with newly discovered privacy enhancing technologies (PETs)), while the smart grid
infrastructure stays the same.
The European initiative for ITC architecture comprises technical, organizational and legal issues. If smart
grids have to be adequately supported, an overview is needed (as large and detailed as possible) of the
energy production, consumption, import and export status. It should be available for energy providers in
a national or even international / European (critical) infrastructure / energy control center.
Smart meters are used for delivering the input. They measure the consumption or export (output),
production and import (input) of energy or the balance of generated and consumed energy by customers,
cars or any energy source or sink. In Smart Grids, meters have the function of sensors whose information
is collected, accumulated and processed for local, regional, national or international management
(generation, distribution, consumption, import, export). The results of the management centers activities
will be commands and the metering devices will act as starters to the locally connected infrastructure.
The main goal of this activity is the support of a single or multiple points with a local, regional, national or
European map of actual energy production and consumption; import and export, e.g., each input data
should not be older than 15 minutes, where the metering data collection must not affect the clients’
privacy.
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This use case is independent of the smart meter accounting and billing applications. It only takes into
account the energy situation monitoring used for various applications (management, distribution, leakage
control, consumption control, forecasting, etc.).
Although the participating providers of the energy monitoring system are not interested in the private or
personal information of the smart meters’ clients, some measures have to be applied to avoid the misuse
of the metering data delivered by smart grid meters. These measures provide privacy of the data needed
for the energy map, even when collected frequently. The best proposed way to support the users’ privacy
is privacy by design. It means that it is not necessary to erase private or any other leaking information as
they are supported by encryption during requirements that must exhibit a high level of trust with respect
to accuracy of measures. Namely, we must avoid energy theft, and with respect to resources availability
malevolent attacks must be avoided.
Apart from data compression and coding techniques, cryptographic mechanisms for providing privacy,
correctness and trust have to be used together with different communication network technology and
protocols.
The input data from the lower hierarchy level are stored into the intermediate aggregators between street
level and the monitor center(s). The two-way communication is offered by the protocols. As a result, it is
possible to get a zooming focus on regional, urban or suburban energy maps by the (national) monitoring
center. Similarly, an interactive national or European energy map should be provided, allowing zooming
on different levels of geographic areas down to the street level, but not to individual customers.
Some of the protocols and standards to address the issue of anonymity have been discussed in Section 5.
4.4 Scenarios based on user perception of privacy issues in smart grids
4.4.1 1st Scenario:
Imagine in January 2020, Claudia has just moved to her new smart home in Catania with an advanced
energy control system connected to the smart grid through a smart meter. She is quite excited about her
new home fully equipped with the newest generation of solar panels. She hopes she will be able to sell
that energy, and not only save money in that way (as Catania, on the east coast of Sicily is the city with
the most sunshine hours in Europe – an average of 2492 per year, or 6.8 hours per day ), but to give her
contribution to a better, greener planet as well.
Soon she finds out in a newspaper article that her situation is not only continuously monitored by the
system (including every single electric appliance in the house which is necessary for the provision of the
energy saving capabilities of the system), but also a lot of information is sent to the energy provider and
the smart grid operator, in exchange for advanced services and reduced rates. As a matter of fact, the
energy provider and the smart grid operator can control the load of the grid and energy production better
in that way, allowing them to be more competitive and cost effective. As she considers it unacceptable to
reveal her private information in this way, she decides to switch off the energy control system and to
disable the communication capabilities of the smart meter. The same happens to many users.
As a result, the energy provider and the smart grid operator cannot accurately predict or react to the
energy consumption peaks when they have no detailed information from the users, except approximately
(which was done at the beginning of the century with electromechanical manual metering). The fact is
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that the smart grid operator has to work with huge infrastructure while the energy provider has to import
energy coping with the unforeseen peaks, which all increases the average cost of the energy they sell and
distribute. Analyzing the situation we can see that the energy control system was using an application not
adapted to work with the specific smart meter and the smart grid equipment and for that reason the built-
in privacy mechanisms were not effective.
This scenario reveals a few innovations which are not currently commercially available but have been
identified as mid-term target by the industry:
1. Firstly, there is a new role (prosumer) which not only changes the relation to other roles, but
introduces many technical challenges raising important concerns in relation to privacy and
security.
2. Further, it is obvious that the scenario refers to the new generation smart meters capable of
acting as a communication interface between the home appliances (including the advanced
energy control system) and the smart grid. These smart meters are not yet available, but this fact
(which might be a huge disadvantage for other smart grid projects) is an advantage for PSG to
show the need for an engineering framework that can produce systems adaptable to the future
evolution of the related systems and components (devices, services).
3. Lastly, the very existence of the advanced systems in the home and the grid with bi-directional
communication capabilities is also new. It is evident that there is a service-based ecosystem in
relations between the actors, in which prosumers, energy providers and grid operators are now
acting both as service providers and service consumers.
Privacy and security expectations and requirements in this setting are both more numerous and more
important as the failure to fulfill the expectations would result in a negative consumer response, slow
market acceptance, or even commercial failure. In addition, this would imply significant damage to the
actors’ reputation. The crucial aspect for this scenario is to use an engineered approach which will ensure
the system to operate in future, and integrating devices and other systems not fully known at design time,
maintaining, at the same time, the original privacy and security requirements.
4.4.2 2nd scenario:
Nicole is authorized and granted to use the charge spot (through secure negotiation protocol with the
Authorization Center- Trust & Security System) and the charge spot gives him a visual or acoustic signal
feedback. Now he can activate and start the charging process, getting information on needed action steps
to plug the car to the charge spot for the energy transfer.
The charging process is allowed by connecting the car to the charge spot. During the process, there is a
data flow between the car and the charge spot which allows control and measuring the power and
charging the level. This exchange is made by a secure communication link using wireless communication
or the same cable used to transfer the energy.
This system (Vehicle to Grid) sends data and information on the “vehicle charging” process between the
car and the charge spot and to other smart grid infrastructure elements and also to the Mobility Brokers.
The data could be used for identification, localization, statistics accounting and billing, computing energy
and power and charge level information used in the process for this vehicle by the identified user.
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After the Fully Electric Vehicle (FEV) has been charged (High Battery Level), the charging stops. The user
is informed by visual and acoustic feedback, while the vehicle and the charge spot can be released and
disconnected and set up to an initial state to be ready for use by another user. During the charging process,
physical security measures are taking account (through sensor or contact element) to avoid the possibility
for the vehicle to be started or run causing an accident, or disconnected suddenly and abruptly when the
battery charging is taking place and the car is plugged to the charge spot.
In this scenario, the grid and the Mobility Broker can gradually collect information on whereabouts of
individual grid user (FEV users). But such information can be a privacy concern and that is why users may
demand control of the information that grid operators and Mobility Brokers can infer on the user’s grid
use.
The system described above can be improved with privacy enablers to protect privacy, with the possibility
to be introduced in the Mobility Brokers and at the charge spot.
The final enabler will be a privacy-enhanced mobility broker for FEV charging operations, using the specific
mechanisms. Candidate solutions for consideration include making FEV anonymous or user identifiers in
such a way that billing is still possible, but the tracking of FEV users is not, or encoding of the identifier’s
characteristics so that their access to some actors can be limited in a restricted way.
4.5 Miscellaneous privacy issues
There are many other privacy related concerns regarding the smart metering, as is the case with any
upcoming technology. A passive adversary with access to the communication between a smart meter or
a gateway and the utility can infer different observations from the usage data. The adversary can deduce
when the customer wakes up, how many people are at home at a particular instance of time, when to
they go to sleep, when do they have their breakfast, when do they watch TV and when they are or are not
at home. It has been shown [8] that even the type of TV programs watched by consumers can be
monitored and judged. In [9] an approach was proposed to identify the multimedia content through smart
meter power usage profiles.
The data collected can potentially be used for many purposes, such as:
• Burglary
• Marketing / advertisement
• Piracy control
• Neighborhood check
• Consumer behavior
• Monitoring habits of neighbor
• Intrusion into privacy
Whatever the use of such data may be, there will always be an argument from the consumer side that his
or her privacy is violated. One such argument was given by the Supreme Court in the U.S.A in this regard
as follows,
The Supreme Court in U.S. affirmed the heightened Fourth Amendment privacy interest in the home and
noted this interest is not outweighed by technology that allows government agents to “see” into the
suspect’s home without actually entering the premises. The Court stated, “We think that obtaining by
sense-enhancing technology any information regarding the interior of the home that could not otherwise
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have been obtained without physical intrusion into a constitutionally protected area, constitutes a search”
and is “presumptively unreasonable without a warrant”.
It is however, important to note that the privacy is not affected only by third party accessing customers’
personal information without their knowledge. The privacy can also be violated by the customer
themselves by allowing other people, firms or organizations to access their personal information or to be
in-charge of this information.
4.6 Other issues that resists the usage of smart metering, e.g., health concerns
Customers have health concerns over the new technology of smart meters. The smart meters, as well as
the gateway, are equipped to communicate over wireless links, e.g., between the smart meters, between
meters and the gateway or from meter to the display units etc. The consumers and public health
organizations have pointed out health risks, such as cancer, due to exposure to overexposure the wireless
signals. The health concerns were one of the reasons which resulted in the UK government delaying the
smart meter rollout by more than one year. There is however, no scientific evidence, so far, to support
the claims that smart meters are bad for health or can cause cancer.
4.7 “Stop smart meters” protests
Recently, there have been a large number of protests against smart metering in the UK, USA and Canada.
Specially people have been protesting against the smart meter rollout in California, USA [35] and British
Columbia [36]. There are also a large number of websites [34-36] dedicated to register online protests
against the smart meter rollout programmes. Most of these protests are based on the health issues,
privacy concerns, safety violations and loss of sovereignty.
5 Security by Design
Because of the scale of the smart metering systems and the smart grid infrastructure, there is a need for
security by design while developing the smart metering solutions. Though the support for remote
software / firmware update to fix the security and other bugs is envisaged for smart meters and smart
metering gateways, due to the criticality of the systems and its ultimate impact on a nation’s security, it
might be too late to react after an attack has been launched. Security by design is a group of concepts and
means to induce security in a system by design rather than as add-ons when security loop holes are
discovered. This means that the software and hardware systems for smart meters should be developed
based on security analysis, security design, secure implementations and security testing in parallel to the
analysis, design, implementation and testing of other system components.
In [10], a systematic method for modeling the functionalities of smart meters and a way to derive attacks
that can be mounted on them was shown. The authors showed how attacks can be identified using the
abstract model (behavior) of the software and then mapped to concrete model (actual implementation).
An open source meter was used and two real attack scenarios were implemented, called as the
communication interface attack and the physical memory attack. This approach shows that if the software
of the smart metering systems is not designed with security considerations in mind, the attacks can always
be done very systematically.
In the TERESA project [29], it was shown how security can be embedded into all the phases of the software
development process, right from the analysis phase up until the implementation and testing phases. The
results were applied and tested for the smart metering gateways according to the German BSI PP model
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(see Fig.5). A prototype was developed to show the applicability of the idea. If security is made a part of
design, then many security issues can be solved through previous experiences gained from already
discovered security loop holes. Pattern based engineering approach for secure software development was
proposed in TERESA. A pattern is a general reusable solution to a commonly occurring problem in design
[41]. Design patterns for software development were popularized in [39] where a large number of design
level patterns were published aimed at object oriented programming. Secure design patterns, for aiding
in secure software development were introduced in [39]. Secure design patterns for smart metering
gateways, were proposed in [32] and used in the analysis, design, development and testing of software
for the gateways of smart metering systems developed according to the BSI PP approach [30]. It was
demonstrated that many flaws arising from loopholes in the analysis, design and especially in the
development phase can be avoided if pattern based security engineering approach is used.
Figure 5. The smart metering gateway (TOE)
architecture from the German BSI Protection Profile
[29]
Figure 6. The smart metering architecture
proposed by the department of energy and climate
change, UK [32]
In addition to addressing the general security issues using security by design techniques, privacy
protection should also be addressed. There are known means for privacy protection in other domains that
could be imported and applied in the smart metering domain for “privacy by design”. One such method
was proposed in PriPAYD [42]. In Pay as you drive (PAYD) systems, for car insurance, the information for
billing a user for his insurance, based on how much and when he drives, is normally collected by a black
box in the car. This data is then transferred to the insurance company via a communications unit. In
PriPAYD [42], only the minimum information necessary to bill the client is transferred to the insurance
company. Privacy preserving methods are proposed in [42] to protect the privacy of clients. Such solutions
should also be applied in the development of smart metering solutions so that the privacy of the
customers is not compromised.
6 Smart Metering Projects
6.1 Research projects and their goals
Several research projects are funded globally to research the issues related to smart metering and smart
grids. Many of the issues being researched in these projects involve scalability, availability, software
development, hardware components, communication protocols, communication interfaces, security,
privacy protection and actual physical installation of hardware devices.
A partial list of the smart metering and smart grid projects around the world and their goals are given
below.
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6.2 Building to Grid (B2G)-Smart Grids Modell region Salzburg
The B2G project was completed in 2013 in Salzburg Vienna. The goal of the project was to investigate
through a series of experiments where the limits of intelligent buildings in a smart grid are. A number of
generic load models for buildings were developed and embedded into an interoperable communication
infrastructure. Methods for improvement of energy efficiency were researched in the project.
6.3 OPENmeter
OPENmeter project was funded by EU and it has been successfully completed. The main objective of the
OPEN meter project was to specify a comprehensive set of open and public standards for AMI. It
supported the electricity, gas, water and heat metering.
6.4 METER-ON
METER-ON, also an EU funded project and successfully completed now, was based on the coordination
and support action to steer the implementation of smart metering solutions throughout Europe. The
project aimed at speeding up and optimizing the adoption of smart metering technologies and
infrastructures in Europe by effectively collecting the most successful experiences in the field and
highlighting the conditions that enabled their development.
6.5 European Smart Metering Alliance (ESMA)
ESMA, funded by EU, has defined and spread best practices in smart metering across EU member states
and sought to maximize the resulting energy savings. The project produced reports on key aspects of
smart metering.
6.6 TERESA
Trusted Computing Engineering for Resource Constraint Embedded Systems Applications (TERESA),
funded by the EU 7th FWP (Seventh Framework Programme), provided guidelines for the specification of
sector specific RCES trusted computing engineering. Software process engineers in a given sector can then
use the guidelines to define a trusted computing engineering process in the resource constraint
embedded systems (RCES) sector.
The main application areas investigated in TERESA were:
• Automotive
• Home control
• Industry control
• Metrology (Smart metering gateways)
6.7 SMART METERING
The SMART METERING project, funded by the Latvia-Lithuania Cross border development programme and
partly by European regional development program, envisaged the possibility to carry out the research, for
implementation, testing, improvement and adjusting the automated meter reading systems, based on
sensor networks, to local infrastructure and to clients. The aim of the project was to encourage the
competitiveness of the region by creating a framework for technology development and accommodation
for regional needs in the field of automated meter reading – smart metering.
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6.8 FENIX
FENIX project was funded by the government of the United Kingdom. The objective of FENIX was to boost
DER (Distributed Energy Resources) by maximizing their contribution to the electric power system,
through aggregation into Large Scale Virtual Power Plants (LSVPP) and decentralized management.
6.9 Customer led network revolution
Customer led network revolution is an ongoing activity funded by the North East and Yorkshire, UK.
Northern Power grid and its partners will be trialing smart grid solutions on the distribution network
within the electricity grid as well as creating smart-enabled homes to give customers more flexibility over
the way they use and generate electricity. The results will help the industry make sure the electricity
networks can handle the mass introduction of solar PV panels, electric cars and other low-carbon
technologies (find the best way to keep down the cost of connecting customers to the grid and minimizing
the cost of meeting their electricity needs).
6.10 ESB Smart grid demonstration
The ESB Networks smart grid project, funded by Galway Ireland, explored the development of wind farm
connections, assess the effectiveness of customer response and interest in demand and consumption
management, investigate the readiness of secondary networks for high penetration levels of electric
vehicles and maximize existing distribution electricity networks.
6.11 ADDRESS
The ADDRESS project, funded by The Houat and Hoedic islands, Brittany Region, France, aimed at
delivering a comprehensive commercial and technical framework for the development of “Active
Demand” in the smart grids of the future. ADDRESS investigated how to effectively activate participation
of domestic and small commercial customers in power system markets and in the provision of services to
the different power system participants.
6.12 REALISEGRID
The mission of REALISEGRID project, funded by the EU, was to develop a set of criteria, metrics, methods
and tools to assess how the transmission infrastructure should be optimally developed to support the
achievement of a reliable, competitive and sustainable electricity supply in the EU.
6.13 INOVGRID
INOVGRID project, funded by the EU in Portugal, aimed at replacing the current LV meters with electronic
devices, called Energy Boxes (EB), using AMM (Automated Meter Management) standards. These EB are
integrated in an automated third generation electrical grid (smart grid) in which network devices are
placed (DTC) that will manage the EB through new TI/SI solutions by aggregating the gathered information
and providing new services to consumers.
6.14 AMM Projects
The AMM projects were funded by the government of Helsinki, Finland. The target was the mass rollout
of smart meters, which took just over one year. Now all the 200,000 meters have been installed and the
customers are enjoying the benefits of smart metering. They will have access to new services, the most
significant of which are changes to their electricity bills to actual and not estimated billing, and more
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precise reporting of their electricity usage as a whole. Consumers will see their consumption broken down
into hourly reports online.
6.15 GRID4EU
Grid4EU, funded by EU, tests the potential of smart grids in areas such as renewable energy integration,
electric vehicle development, grid automation, energy storage, energy efficiency and load reduction.
6.16 Smart House / Smart Grid
The SmartHouse/SmartGrid project, carried out in Germany and funded by the EU, was set out to validate
and test how ICT-enabled collaborative technical-commercial aggregations of Smart Houses provide an
essential step to achieve the needed radically higher levels of energy efficiency in Europe. Three main
goals that SmartHouse/SmartGrid project is heading towards are to improve energy efficiency, increase
the penetration of renewable energies, and diversify and decentralize Europe’s energy mix.
6.17 Hydro one smart meter rollout projects
The Hydro one smart meter rollout project installed 1.3 million meters in Ontario, Canada. The initiatives
included employing numerous smart network and smart home technologies enabled by an integrated
combination of standards-based mesh radio and state-of-the-art WiMAX wireless technology, including
distribution station and security monitoring, mobile work dispatch and accomplishment reporting,
automated vehicle locate safety monitoring etc.
The hydro one smart meter project was also implemented in British Colombia, Canada. BC Hydro
upgraded homes & businesses across B.C. with smart meters. 1.8 million of BC Hydro customers were
given smart meters with free installation.
6.18 Energy Smart Florida
This project involved deploying an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) in Miami, Florida, USA. It
included distribution automation, new electricity pricing programs, and advanced monitoring equipment
for the transmission system.
6.19 AEP Texas GridSmart
American Electric Power (AEP) Texas in Corpus Christi, Texas, USA, installed smart meters to nearly
1,000,000 electric customers in October 2009. For its smart grid initiative, AEP has chosen Landi+Gyr’s
Gridstream RF (Radio Frequency) smart grid network.
6.20 SCS Smart Grid
The Southern Company Services Smart Grid project, in Alabama USA, involved integrated upgrades of the
distribution, transmission, and grid management systems throughout their large service territory. Major
efforts included automation of major parts of the distribution system, automation of selected
transmission lines, and new equipment for many substations.
6.21 Synergy Advanced Metering
The Thornlie and Canning Vale Advanced Metering Proof of Concept study, in Thornlie, Western Australia,
involved an investigation into a behavioral trial of advanced metering solutions as a means of helping
customers manage their electricity consumption habits. The study aims to revolutionize the way
households consume energy and monitor their energy use. The study included multiple channels of
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communicating with customers including through an In Home Display, an interactive website, email and
SMS to encourage behavioral change.
6.22 Adelaide Solar City
The program, being implemented in Adelaide, Salisbury, South Australia, combines solar power, smart
metering, energy efficiency and cost reflective pricing to trial a range of innovative energy solutions. It's
being delivered in the Cities of Salisbury, Tea Tree Gully, Playford and Adelaide City as part of the
Australian Government's $94 million Solar Cities program.
6.23 Smart Grid Smart City
Smart Grid, Smart City is a $100 million Australian government funded project in Sydney. The project is
testing a range of smart grid technologies; gathering information about the benefits and costs of
implementing these technologies in an Australian setting. Up to 30,000 households will participate in the
project which runs between 2010 and 2013.
6.24 Townsville Queensland Solar City
The Townsville Queensland Solar City project is part of the Australian Government’s leading-edge Solar
Cities program in Queensland, Australia. The project trials a range of initiatives that aim to reduce wasteful
energy usage, increase solar energy usage and cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50,000 tones.
One of the trials comprises of the installation of 2,500 electricity smart meters for homes and businesses.
6.25 Mercury Energy Smart Meter Deployment
More than 300,000 Mercury Energy customers will receive a high-tech smart meter, through metering
services provider in Aukland, New Zealand. The new meters record usage in 30 minute periods, meaning
that information for bills will always be accurate and up to date and this information could also be used
to help customers manage their power consumption.
7 Conclusion
Intelligent buildings are not imaginable anymore without smart devices for energy consumption and
monitoring. The liberalization of the energy and metering services markets need new communication
systems for smart metering and corresponding security architecture to enhance the trust level in the
system. On one hand, a consumer won’t trust the system if he is not assured that his privacy will not be
compromised. On the other hand, a utility won’t trust the system if the threat perception and security
risks are high. This paper discusses the evolution of smart metering systems from manual readouts of the
electromechanical metering devices to fully automated electronic smart metering systems with advanced
metering infrastructure in the context of smart grids. However, this progress comes at the cost of security
and privacy concerns. The paper looks in to the privacy and security issues that may arise due to the
current solutions. The solutions for smart metering architectures and for security of the components
therein, proposed or adopted by the smart metering architectures in different countries are discussed in
the paper. The smart grid is a network of open systems and the data exchange takes place using different
smart metering protocols and standards which are summarized in the paper. The need for a security by
design approach is explored in this paper. Some solutions for security by design and privacy by design
approach are discussed. A partial list of smart metering and smart grid projects, around the world, is given
in the end.
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