How the role of electricity meters has evolved
Peter Jensen, chair of IEC Technical Committee 13, which provides standardization for electricity meters, answers questions about current and future challenges for the industry and the committee itself as smart grids roll out and market demands evolve.
How important are smart meters in helping the grid remain resilient and provide electricity to all despite increasing demand?
In developed countries, electricity meters have evolved from a simple billing device to an integral part of the grid, monitoring energy levels and helping with load management. Implementing advanced load control schemes is the cornerstone of building a resilient grid with the ability to support a high percentage of local renewable energy production as well as dynamic loads such as EV charging. This will be taken to another level tomorrow, as more and more battery storage will allow energy to be fed into the grid for commercial purposes and support it when needed to avoid energy shortages.
A major problem facing utilities in developing countries remains high levels of non-technical losses and unpaid bills. For example, these reduce the ability of utilities to invest in grid modernization, and over time, this can lead to a significant increase in outages. In order to solve this problem, electric meters have been integrated into various technical means. An extremely effective first step that is constantly improving is the use of prepaid metering. With the new generation of connected smart meters, fraud detection can be taken to another level using advanced data analytics. However, we cannot ignore that the social aspect is also very important, and the way different countries approach this topic varies greatly.
How has the scope of IEC TC 13 evolved over the years? What are the main challenges?
IEC TC 13 has always played a central role as the standardization body for energy measurement for billing and load control. Many of our standards are stable workhorses that have been in use for decades and are constantly evolving to keep up with the latest technology, including changes in environmental conditions and electromagnetic compatibility. The advent of smart metering and the large-scale deployment of this technology around the world has brought us new challenges. Many countries base their legal frameworks on our standards and use them for various tenders. This means that, typically, when utility companies or meter operators deploy metering systems, they can only use products that have been certified according to IEC standards.
The IEC 62056 Smart Metering Standardization Framework for Energy Metering Data Exchange, also known as the DLMS/COSEM™ Suite, is designed to be flexible. A good example provided by the framework is that, without changing the standard base, it has been extended to support the latest variety of communication profiles on the market. Products that comply with the IEC TC 13 standard include interoperability and the highest level of cybersecurity, essential qualities for utility and meter operators. However, some of the biggest challenges may lie ahead of us. Rapid developments in several application areas, notably smart grids, electric vehicle charging infrastructure and flexible load control, require metering, not only for billing purposes, but also to control and verify the delivery of energy services. This requires establishing good working relationships with other TCs, coordinating work, and ensuring that standards are released in a timely manner as expected by the market. Since electric vehicles are an important subject for future standardization, IEC standards must cover all areas of the field, including billing and certification of charging services. The IEC TC 13 standard already covers most of the requirements, but we know our standard needs to be supplemented to fully meet these requirements. Another important task is to ensure that the IEC TC 13 standard is used globally to support the requirements of regional markets.
