Make do and mend – use existing comms for smart meters

It makes sound business sense to adapt existing electricity and gas industry data services for the smart world, says Tony Thornton.

The smart metering implementation programme advocates a centralised, regulated data and communications hub, managed by a licensed Data Communications Company (DCC). Two to three years after the DCC is established, it is proposed that it will take on the role of meter point registration, including improved processes for change of supply. This will lead to a significant shift in the volume of communications and the way in which smart meter data will be managed. 
Market participants will need to be able to communicate with each other and with smart meters within a secure and robust framework – for example, to switch meters to and from prepayment; to apply tariffs; to invoke demand-side management; and to pass account information. That said, the DCC will need to ensure that it (or its relevant service providers) passes smart meter data only to participants who are entitled to receive it.
Arrangements to authenticate communications and access requests in a smart environment must be proportionate and practicable to protect consumers and to ensure that a competitive smart energy market operates effectively. However, the cost of making this step change is not insignificant. At a time of increasing energy costs for customers and of significant market transformation, it is important that solutions in support of smart metering be delivered as efficiently as possible with the minimum of risk. 
We must ask, do existing systems, databases and processes really need to be replaced in favour of expensive new systems? And what is the potential for using existing services – specifically, the Electricity Central Online Enquiry Service (Ecoes) – to support market arrangements, avoid the duplication of existing functionality and reduce costs?
Every month, approximately 700,000 electricity and gas customers change supplier and, as a minimum, this means registration services and access to data require:
* secure information systems compliant with ISO 27001;
* high data integrity;
* accurate, up-to-date data;
* approaching 100 per cent reliability;
* very fast response times;
* 24x7x365 availability;
* all of the above, regardless of the network on which the customer is located.
However, the electricity and gas markets have evolved separately, with different intra-market systems and procedures. The convergence of electricity and gas market processes will increase in momentum with the advent of smart metering. Access control arrangements and industry solutions will need to be as comprehensive and as robust as possible to cater for this.
Ecoes was established following an Ofgem-led review aimed at improving electricity customers’ experience of switching. It is mandated and governed under the master registration agreement and gives a consolidated view of data relating to supply points, as provided by meter point administration service providers and meter operators. This reduces delays and errors.
Data is accessible via a web-based portal. The service is used by suppliers prior to initiating a change of supplier request to check that they have accurate information and are able to support the customer’s metering. In addition, Ecoes is used to assist in the resolution of queries relating to discrepancies in data held by market participants. It also assists with the allocation of transactions in relation to prepayment metering and the confirmation of information relating to feed-in tariffs. As such, Ecoes is available to suppliers, their agents (such as meter operators and data collectors), distribution businesses and non-domestic customers.
In a smart environment, systems will need to be able to accept and serve incoming data requests from a large number of interactive users, be scalable and always available 24x7x365 so the DCC can process its own incoming data requests. Ecoes is already evolving in support of new market arrangements. The use of established systems that are scalable and capable of easily adapting to industry and customer needs may offer significant cost and time advantages, notwithstanding helping to de-risk what is already a complex market change. In the event that electricity registration systems must process real-time data, Ecoes can be readily modified to accommodate real-time updates.
There are three possible options to use Ecoes in a smart environment.
The first is to make use of existing central systems and arrangements. The DCC’s access control process could make use of Ecoes and the gas industry’s Single Centralised Online Gas Enquiry Service (Scoges). This would deliver a solution that is relatively fast to establish because it maximises use of existing industry systems and their respective established interfaces.
The second option is direct interfacing. The DCC could interface directly with each of the network operators, within a framework dictated by an access control process. Ecoes and Scoges would not be used, although it is reasonable to assume the DCC would need to recreate (in some form) similar functions and services to those that they already provide.
The third option is a variant of direct interfacing: using a local copy. This again would not use Ecoes or Scoges, and again presumes the DCC would need to recreate the important functions those services provide today. This time, however, the DCC would establish a local copy of necessary data from network operators’ systems.
In conclusion, adopting existing systems within the smart architectural design has significant competitive retail market advantages, not least to de-risk the adoption of registration systems by the DCC. This would assist the government’s desire to “bring forward the date at which DCC services can be provided, thereby reducing risks to the consumer experience and potential impacts on competition in the market for wide area network communications services”. 
Respondents to the government’s smart metering implementation programme consultation noted that the central checking of user authorisation – involved in access control – is an essential feature of a secure smart metering solution. It is important to get this right. For the access control function to operate effectively and efficiently, it must be cost effective, low risk, quick to establish, dynamic, reliable and have high data integrity. Using and building on existing systems will deliver these requirements and lessen the administrative burden of moving towards a smart environment. 
Ecoes and Scoges are independent systems supporting their respective market registration processes. Consequently, any re-use of either system should be considered independently to take account of each system’s capability and scalability. 
Tony Thornton is energy delivery manager for Gemserv in partnership with C&C Group Holdings.

This article first appeared in Utility Week’s print edition of 13 January 2012.
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