IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 58, NO.

10, OCTOBER 2011 4487

Electricity Smart Meters Interfacing the Households

Francesco Benzi, Member, IEEE, Norma Anglani, Member, IEEE, Ezio Bassi, and Lucia Frosini

Abstract—The recent worldwide measures for energy savings
call for a larger awareness of the household energy consumption,
given the relevant contribution of domestic load to the national
energy balance. On the other hand, electricity smart meters to-
gether with gas, heat, and water meters can be interconnected in
a large network offering a potential value to implement energy
savings and other energy-related services, as long as an efficient
interface with the final user is implemented. Unfortunately, so far,
the interface of such devices is mostly designed and addressed
at the utilities supervising the system, giving them relevant ad-
vantages, while the communication with the household is often
underestimated. This paper addresses this topic by proposing
the definition of a local interface for smart meters, by looking
at the actual European Union and international regulations, at the
technological solutions available on the market, and at those im-
plemented in different countries, and, finally, by proposing specific
architectures for a proper consumer-oriented implementation of a
smart meter network.
Index Terms—Communication standards, home automation,
smart grids, smart metering.
I. I NTRODUCTION
T HE electronic meters for electricity (smart meters) are
undergoing an increasing deployment in private homes
all over the world, which is mostly triggered from the govern-
ment decisions in order to fulfill energy-saving targets. As a
consequence, an ever growing physical communication net-
work, made up of millions of local meters, has been established,
whose considerable advantages are so far in favor primarily, if
not solely, of the energy distributors, since they are enabled
at simplified, more efficient, and less costly transactions with
the customers, e.g., for meter reading, billing, and energy
supply administration [1]. By its nature, however, a digital
communication network has, among its features, the flexibility
and extensibility of the structure, so that new applications can
also be provided. Therefore, it seems reasonable to assume that
the meters themselves, by increasing their capabilities, become
players in a more extended and different network, which is
available not only to the distribution or energy production com-
panies but also to the domestic energy final users, by providing
them with useful services: 1) value-added services specifically
based on the meter data, such as power consumption in-home
display, automatic load management in order to comply with
the maximum contract power, and demand response (DR)
Manuscript received February 26, 2010; revised August 26, 2010; accepted
December 8, 2010. Date of publication January 20, 2011; date of current
version August 30, 2011.
The authors are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, University
of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy (e-mail: fbenzi@unipv.it; norma.anglani@unipv.it;
bassi@unipv.it; lucia.frosini@unipv.it).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIE.2011.2107713
programs, and 2) general functions, addressed to the needs of
the home inhabitant, which can take advantage indirectly from
the meter information, like optimal heating, air-conditioning,
or lighting based on actual energy tariffs—such services should
preferably be integrated with other home automation networks.
Moreover, other energy smart meters (gas, heat, and water),
when equipped with proper technical connectivity, could join
the network by carrying out similar functions and increasing
the effectiveness of services.
These considerations bring to the requirement for a smart
meter device that is able of simultaneously and effectively
communicating with both the world of energy service (energy
producers and distributors) and the household world.
A number of international and local resolutions, supported by
experiments and actual realizations and aimed at maximizing
the energy efficiency, make the perspective of new infrastruc-
tures and “smart grids” predictable for the next few years,
where the energy meters play a relevant role. The authors will
therefore raise the issue of providing a local interface between
the meter and the house and the design of network architectures,
specific devices, and protocols well fitted to a general exploita-
tion of the smart meter that is profitable for the individual user
and the community.
This paper presents in Section II some relevant international
projects, aimed at the optimization of energy networks, where
the role of electricity smart meters is emphasized. In Section III,
significant implementations of smart meter deployment in se-
lected countries are reviewed.Section IV describes in detail how
digital meters interfacing the consumer premises can play a
more active role and provide relevant benefits to the final user.
Finally, Section V discusses the technical requirements of smart
meters in order for them to provide the aforementioned benefits
and proposes and compares a number of technical solutions,
particularly architectures and communication protocols. An
acknowledgement is due to the Italian Regulatory Authority for
Electricity and Gas, and namely the Electric Service Quality
Unit, in behalf of which a study related to this subject has been
conducted by the authors.
In the following, the term “smart meter” stands for “electric-
ity smart meter,” unless differently specified.
II. ROLE OF S MART M ETERS IN THE
I NTEGRATED E NERGY S YSTEM
For several years, internationally, the concept of intelligent
interconnection among energy networks, known as smart grid,
has been assessed. On a different perspective, the final user of
the same energy, within the house environment, is nowadays
at the center of a quite extended communication network, in-
cluding telephone, data transmission, home automation, and the

0278-0046/$26.00 © 2011 IEEE

4488 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 58, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2011
Fig. 1. Smart House areas (adapted from [2]).
most pervasive of all, the Web. Thus, the two worlds (the util-
ity’s and the house’s) are closely related but still differentiated
with respect to many parameters (protocols and physical media)
so that such important information as that related to energy
consumption cannot be easily interchanged. The smart meters,
being exactly at the border of the two worlds, can play a crucial
role, as it has been concluded by two relevant international
projects, whose proposals and outcomes are resumed in the
following.
Smart House (2001–2005)—The Smart House project has
been sponsored by Comité Européen de Normalisation Elec-
trotechnique (CENELEC) TC 205/WG 16 and European Asso-
ciation for the Co-ordination of Consumer Representation in
Standardisation, the European standard organization of final
consumers, with the goal of coordinating standardization in
home applications and trying to include the largest number
of players of different categories (utilities, manufacturers, and
integrators). It was conducted in two phases: The first, from
2001 to 2003, concluded with an interim report highlighting
among others the pivotal role of entertainment and broad-
band access for the house connectivity, the positive effect of
CENELEC/TC-205-type home bus systems, particularly if they
are truly integrated with an electrical power distribution system,
and the role of interoperability standards, and the second ended
up in 2005 with a more operational code of practice [2],
which is a very rich document, including a comprehensive
overview of technologies, applications, and standards, based on
consultations with almost all operators. A significant number
of areas are identified inside and around the house (see Fig. 1).
In the area called home equipment, such devices as the smart
meters and energy consumption displays are included; the code
suggests, with some detail, possible reference for interface and
communication system standardization in order to make these
devices interoperable with a general data network.
Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) Consumer Portal—
Intelligrid (2005)—It is a project born in the U.S. EPRI, with
the aim of establishing a framework of reference supporting a
“consumer portal,” which establishes a two-way communica-
tion between utilities and customers, thus enabling advanced
services for the consumers involving energy and home au-
tomation. To this end, it is proposed to adopt an architecture
that defines the structure, requirements, and standards needed
to design interoperable products and systems, implementing,
Fig. 2. Service groups according to the Intelligrid Consumer Portal (adapted
from [3]).
among others, projects of smart metering, DR, and saving for
consumers. The characteristics of the consumer portal are sum-
marized in the final document [3], with the goal of defining the
best interaction with the consumer or the resident population.
Here too, the goal is to define the common and interoperable
characteristics required in order that devices and communica-
tion systems can interface effectively. This effort resulted in
the scheme in Fig. 2, which shows a classification framework,
operating in parallel with the more traditional International
Standard Organization’s Open System Interconnect (ISO/OSI)
level scheme, where a wide variety of communication protocols
employed in the energy and consumer sector can be included.
Accordingly, all of these systems are grouped in service groups
represented in the figure, where, e.g., the Internet protocols
(IPv4 and IPv6) pertain to the core networking service group
and the standard IEC 61850 is included in the power system
operations group. In this scheme, the smart meters are included
both in the local area networks, providing technologies such
as Ethernet, WiFi, and ZigBee, and in the consumer appli-
cation area, where it is registered a significant role of both
protocols for home automation (e.g., Konnex and LonWorks)
and metering-dedicated protocols such as Device Language
Message Specification (DLMS)/Companion Specification for
Energy Metering (COSEM).
In conclusion, both projects provide a relevant role for the
smart meters and foresee for them a common interface capabil-
ity with both the power system and the household devices and
services.
An attempt to a more effective definition of a common stan-
dard comes from the 2009 European mandate of the European
Commission, addressed to Comité Européen de Normalisation,
CENELEC, and European Telecommunications Standards In-
stitute for the development of an open architecture for utility
smart meters, involving communication protocols enabling the
interoperability. The mandate terms envision the integration of
all relevant meters (electricity, gas, water, and heat) and set a
30-mo deadline in view of an effective accomplishment.
Some of the specified requirements are addressed to an inte-
gration of the meters within the households: “Solutions meant
to be installed in living quarters should be silent, nonintrusive,
BENZI et al.: ELECTRICITY SMART METERS INTERFACING THE HOUSEHOLDS
and safe” [4]. A number of large projects have therefore been
stimulated in Europe, totally or partly based on the mandate
guidelines. Open Public Extended Network Metering (OPEN
Meter) is supported by a team of the more important European
utilities, research, and industrial companies. The envisioned
architecture is strongly centered on the role of the smart meter
and its interface with the concentrator and utility central system;
a role is provided even for end-user devices, even though, so far,
these are defined as optional and one-way communication [5].
E-Energy is a large spectrum project, initiated in Germany,
whose general aim is to create a smart electricity system, which
will extensively control itself with all energy-sector processes
optimally adapted to one another. Smart metering is one of the
topics, and a focus has been given to standardization issues [6].
III. S MART M ETER D EPLOYMENT.
I NTERNATIONAL OVERVIEW
In an international overview of smart metering deployment,
a variety of proposals and a differentiated level of implemen-
tation in a number of nations have to be highlighted. In the
following, the more relevant results either for extension or
technical aspects will be discussed.
United States and Canada. The requirement for DR policy
and smart meter deployment was first raised in California in the
last years of utility crisis and is now further stimulated from the
$4.5 billion federal economic package, allocated for research
related to smart grids. In the development of the DR potential
scenarios that rely on dynamic pricing, the Fourth Assessment
of Demand Response and Advanced Metering issued by a
federal commission [7] estimates 7.95 million advanced meters
installed nationwide in 2009. A potential at five and ten years
is then estimated under different scenarios. Under the quite
likely “partial deployment” scenario, about 80 million meters
will be installed by 2019. The initial target set by the Canadian
government of 800 000 homes by 2007 has been surpassed.
Australia. The Essential Services Commission of Victoria has
rolled out a timetable to install 1 million smart meters by 2013.
Developing countries like China and India are looking
toward smart grids and smart metering as crucial technologies
to cope with an efficient management of energy distribution and
control in overcrowded areas.
In Europe, a relevant role is played by regulator authorities
and governmental agencies, according to the general directives
assumed by the European Union (EU), namely, the European
Directive 32/2006 on end-user energy efficiency services [8]
and its following transposition and implementation in single
states.
Italy. Among other European and international countries, it
deserves a special mention since, with more than 30 million
smart meters installed, it covers more than 80% of house-
holds and leads the deployment of smart metering devices in
the world. These have been installed since the beginning of
2000, following a strategic choice of the national utility Ente
Nazionale per l’energia ELettrica, initially based on the EN
14908 protocol and lately modified on the basis of proprietary
solutions. In the meanwhile, a decision of the Italian Authority
for Energy and Gas has defined technical requirements and tim-
4489
Fig. 3. Communication ports belonging to the metering installation (adapted
from [12]).
ing of deployment for all companies so that it seems reasonable
now that the deadline of more than 95% of coverage by 2012
will be observed.
Other details in smart metering international deployment
can be found in [9]–[11]. Here, for the sake of reference and
better understanding of the following paragraphs, the standard
solution proposed in The Netherlands is shortly reported. The
Institute for Dutch Standards completed in April 2007 the
specification NTA 8130:2007 [12], [13] to define the minimum
standard of domestic meters for electricity, gas, and heat in
order to provide an integrated management and an awareness of
energy consumption by the user. The data exchange is defined
through a number of ports/interfaces defined by P1 to P4 (see
Fig. 3). In addition to port P2, which is explicitly provided for
the exchange of information with other energy meters (gas and
water), the interest is focused on port P1, which establishes
a link to service modules available to the final user, which is
a local interface. This is also considered an access by third-
party providers to the remote center through P4 to offer further
services. Port P1 is unidirectional from the meter to the user.
The physical connection is implemented with a standard RJ11
telephone connector (transistor–transistor logic level) and a
communication protocol IEC 62056-21 (DLMS) at 9600 b/s, as
well as the object identification protocol Object Identification
System (COSEM). The data readings are made available on
request on this port at a frequency of 10 s: energy consumption,
instantaneous power, energy fare (on-peak/off-peak), position
(on/off), and threshold value (maximum current in amperes).
Through the same gateway, messages can be forwarded from
the distributors to the end user about the following: reasons for
the supply detachment, limitations of the threshold power, and
exhaustion of credit for prepaid supplies. Third parties can also
access port P1 to send messages up to 1024 characters. For gas
meters, there is a similar port P1, but the data are provided every
24 h, except for the change in position of the opening valve,
which is transmitted immediately.
IV. B ENEFITS OF S MART M ETER I NTERFACING
THE H OUSEHOLD
The smart meter installation brings quite evident benefits to
the utilities in a medium or short span of time: It provides
a more timely and precise billing and reduces the costs of
interacting with customers by activating, closing, or suspend-
ing contracts with no personnel displacement, it also gives
4490 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 58, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2011
significant help in avoiding electricity-related frauds, and, fi-
nally, it offers the potential for better power peak control and
distribution. The interest of electrical energy distributors is
therefore self-evident, and it is reasonable to assume that, even
for other energy sources (gas, water, and heat), the utilities
could find it technologically sound and profitable to extend
a similar smart metering philosophy, even though it can be
expected some delay due to the lack of such a preexisting phys-
ical interconnection as it is the low-voltage powerline for the
electricity meter. On the other hand, alternatives (e.g., wireless
solutions) are available, and regulatory authority decisions can
offer additional obligations or incentives.
Nonetheless, a complete exploitation of smart metering ad-
vantages is only achieved when an efficient local interface
between the smart meter and the household is accomplished.
Benefits can then be extended to the community and to the final
user. As a matter of fact, the interconnection of energy users and
the ability to easily provide data related to energy consumption
are crucial opportunities for the management of such a critical
area as the energy saving. After the Kyoto Protocol, even the
most recent 20-20-20 agreements converge at implementing
policies aimed at saving energy and reducing CO2 emissions.
The role of smart meters in this context is enhanced by a num-
ber of added services, discussed hereinafter in two categories.
1) Consumer information and awareness. The energy-
related data can be made available from the meter to the
home inhabitant: instantaneous power and total energy
consumption, possibly grouped in statistically significant
ranges (hours of the day, periods of the month, or year).
The aim is to make the user aware of its consumption
in order to reduce it or adapt it to the actual needs.
This requires an easy-to-see display, showing simple and
immediate information, allowing the consumer to interact
in almost real time.
2) Interactive services for the regulation of energy de-
mand. These fall under the category of demand side
management, a general strategy for optimal energy effi-
ciency, including DR techniques. DR services are offered
by the distributor or supplier of energy; they are often
based on incentives offered at the government level,
which motivate the consumer to adhere to plans aimed at
optimizing the distribution of energy consumption during
the day and encourage savings that will impact both on
consumer spending and on the energy request from the
community. These services take advantage from energy
rate differentiation during the day and mechanisms of the
energy market. Among these actions are as follows: the
choice of the better distribution of energy sources in case
alternative (e.g., renewable) energy sources are available,
the reduction of the power level supply based on the
knowledge of the actual consumption, and the choice
of the more convenient usage hours based on multihour
rates. All of these can be done on a voluntary basis or can
be implemented automatically on the basis of a contract
with a distributor or an energy service manager [14]–[17].
For implementing all the aforementioned services, the data
available at the smart meter (actual consumption and energy
tariffs) are necessary, and a flexible two-way local interface
must be established between the meter and any device that is
able to implement the mentioned specific functions, including
intelligent appliances (e.g., appliances endowed with hardware
and software for automatic management) [18]. Within this
frame, the smart meter becomes a potential tool for the imple-
mentation of policies relevant to the community, as generator
and storage of information and sensitive data. On the other
hand, the actual implementation of such added services implies
even an economic evaluation since the cost of the metering
devices and their installation must be considered in the budget
to conclude on the effectiveness of the energy-saving policies.
This is clearly considered in EU directive 32/06.
Finally, when it comes to the benefits for end users, a number
of issues still require to be addressed to make them effective.
Again, the requirement of a good efficient economic interface
is mandatory. This is particularly true wherever the typical
meter location is in sites that are remote from the everyday
life spaces, like basement, cellars, or dedicated common rooms.
However, once an efficacious interface is enabled, a number of
services could be implemented, and they can take place and
be integrated within the functions and services that fall under
the category of home automation and that have found so far
a significant spread on a national basis. Home automation is
mainly associated not only with such features as security, enter-
tainment and comfort, and care for sick, elderly, and disabled
people but also with energy savings. Unfortunately, so far, the
more common home automation equipment dedicated to energy
saving disregards the official smart meter mainly because of the
lack or complexity of a local interface in favor of other indepen-
dent and low-cost power metering devices, which in turn would
be difficult to be integrated in programs for DR policies.
In conclusion, at the state of the art of the metering deploy-
ment, the user does not perceive an immediate benefit from
the presence of the smart meter; therefore, he does not activate
saving policies for itself and the community, which in turn fails
at achieving the overall objectives expected. Hence, it can be
expected that a revision of some technical characteristics of the
actual meters and of the architectures where they are included,
even in light of more recent and significant national and interna-
tional regulations, can significantly improve their exploitation.
In this perspective, the consumer will be encouraged at using
this information in a more concrete and effective way. Thus,
the data are to be made available to the customer not only in
the form of display for easy and simple reading but also in the
form of data to be used in a network, including other devices or
services.
V. T ECHNICAL S OLUTIONS FOR L OCAL I NTERFACE OF
S MART M ETERS IN THE H OUSEHOLD
From the aforementioned paragraph, the following technical
requirements can be derived for both the devices and the archi-
tecture needed to implement a proper local interface between
the meter and the household, while still keeping the existing
interface between the meter and the power distribution system.
Location of the local interface. The interface must be located
or have a termination node within the home living area for
immediate accessibility of the data required for the implemen-
BENZI et al.: ELECTRICITY SMART METERS INTERFACING THE HOUSEHOLDS 4491

tation of the added services previously mentioned. The distribu-

tion companies indeed favor a location of the devices in cellars
and common service areas of the buildings that are internal and
sometimes external to the building itself and away from the
indoor location in view of an easier access for maintenance or
inspection. This can conflict with the final user, who is inter-
ested in an easy continuous availability of the information for
reading and data manipulation.
Architecture of the reading network. The smart meters, being
inserted as nodes in a communication data reading network,
play a different role according to the chosen architecture; when
a master–slave solution is preferred, as it happens frequently in
power distribution networks, to guarantee a hierarchical deter-
ministic reading, the master unit is placed at the concentrator
level, located in the distribution substation, or at an higher,
supervising level; the smart meter instead plays usually a slave
unit role. As a consequence, any access of the meter to the com-
munication line requires a specific authorization from above,
which results in a slow communication and interaction cycle
between the meter itself and any node that is different from the
concentrator master unit. In practice, the communication delay
of any information coming from the meter, even when directed
to a closer local interface, can be on the order of minutes,
which is not compatible with many real-time operations (e.g.,
suppose the active power instantaneous data are required from
a local device installed in the apartment for intelligent load Fig. 4. Reference scheme for local meter interface.
management to avoid exceeding the contractual power). Peer
architectures or high-priority roles for the meter are thus to be turning on. While many devices and metering systems are
suggested. designed with attention to security issues, these aspects still
Standard communication protocols. It would be difficult for require double checking in case of any new extension of the
end consumers to use the meter data, as long as they are communication network [20].
formatted according to protocols that are proprietary or use The aforementioned criteria need to be addressed when
strictly industrial standards, as it happens frequently at present proposing new viable solutions for a local meter interface, the
for the communication between the meter and the utility side. In first goal being to make the smart meter data closer and avail-
the first case, the proprietary protocol has to be made available able to the end user in his/her everyday living location. In the
to third parties (open solution); however, even when industrial following, a number of technical solutions (A–D) are sketched
standards are applied, a suitable bridging device has to be and discussed, with reference to the scheme in Fig. 4, where
provided to interface with the protocols normally employed for the communication between the meter and the concentrator is
home automation, which are different from the industrial ones supposed to be based on powerline communication (PLC), as it
and frequently pertain to the sector of consumer electronics. In happens quite frequently in distribution systems. In the scheme,
conclusion, the best solution seems that of an open protocol the right section refers to the end-user home, where the meter
flexible enough to serve both the industrial measurements and location has been assumed to be separated from the day living
the home automation requirements [19]. apartment. Within the house, a number of devices have been
Security issues. The knowledge of detailed metering data considered meaningful for the present discussion, including a
from a customer can suggest a complete pattern of his/her generic network node (e.g., located in the electric panel), an
everyday life; therefore, it is a sensible information deserving energy consumption display, a CPU-based device for man-
confidentiality. Moreover, another security issue is related to agement of added services, and a residential gateway (RG)
the integrity of the information: The data completeness and required for interconnecting the house with Internet and Web
precision must be guaranteed against technical unwanted errors services. On the left section in Fig. 4, the main elements
or interference and even against possible frauds. A third rele- of the distribution system communication network have been
vant issue is related to the availability of the data and that of sketched. These include a concentrator, connecting a number
the service: An unsecure system can affect the interests of the of single house meters through a PLC, and a centralized remote
utility in case the metering data are temporarily unavailable. On management unit, usually connected to the peripherals through
the other hand, even for the final user, the availability issue is telephone data lines or PLC; a large bandwidth connection of
relevant: The smart meter is indeed also a switch that can be the distribution system to the Web is also considered. Two
turned on or off remotely from the utility management center. possible paths have been singled out for data transmission from
Wrong or untimely switching can bring a service interruption the smart meter to the house. Path 1 is referenced for solutions
or even worse consequences in case of unexpected electricity A, B, and C, while path 2 is suggested for solution D.
4492 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 58, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2011
A. Dedicated Line Connection Between the
Meter and the House
The first solution is based on a dedicated serial line (e.g., a
copper-shielded or copper-unshielded twisted pair) extending
from the meter location inside the house. The smart meter has
thus to be provided with a suitable physical connector, and the
data are transmitted according to a simple and open protocol for
data exchange, if possible a standard one (e.g., IEC 62056-21
already available in many electricity meters). The serial con-
nection can be implemented through a low-cost telephonelike
physical connector (RJ11) or connectors suitable for the lower
levels ISO/OSI layers (such as RS232, RS485, or universal
serial bus). As long as the data are provided within the meter
according to a standard or open format, a proper gateway makes
them available for external use. With this solution, the local
requested services (either the simple display of consumption or
more complex interactive services) and interfaces with other
suitable devices in the house (e.g., smart thermostats or lighting
switches) can be implemented by the final user or by home
automation service providers. The home display or gateway can
receive and manage information even from other meters (e.g.,
gas, water, and heat) as long as interoperable protocols and
transmission lines are provided for them. This will allow more
significant energy balancing and services to be accomplished.
The advantages are as follows: this solution is based on quite
cheap physical means and simple protocols, and the dedicated
line assures a low level of interference and high data security.
The disadvantage is as follows: the physical wiring from the
meter to the house can still be an obstacle for an easy imple-
mentation of this solution, particularly for tall or old buildings,
due to cost and installation complexity.
B. Wireless Connection Between the Meter and the House
This solution is, in principle, very close to the previous one,
where the dedicated physical line is substituted by a wireless
link. This involves the implementation of a wireless network
by providing nodes both on the meter and on the connected
device within the home, all of them requiring possible protocol
adaptation.
The reference standard for such transmission in this con-
text is IEEE 802.15.4, which defines the first two lower lev-
els ISO/OSI (physical and access). The implementation of
higher levels of application could be, e.g., the well-known and
widespread ZigBee standard which is endowed with specifi-
cations well fitted to this application, like very low battery
consumption due to the sleeping mechanism and also provides
specific profiles for both the home automation and energy
measurement [21]; however, other protocol solutions are not
excluded. End users or service providers, at the house location,
can use information directly as long as the same protocol is
employed for meter data transmission and home automation
services. As an alternative, they need to adapt the data to the
wireless protocol chosen. The wireless network can operate at
2.4 GHz (license free) throughout the world or at a reduced
frequency (868–868.8 MHz in Europe and 902–928 MHz in the
U.S.) [22]. A possible limitation for the wireless choice is the
maximum distance between nodes. This is guaranteed at 10 m
for indoors even though higher distances are attainable but not
guaranteed, depending on conditions and routes of communica-
tion: It can be a problem with tall buildings and with thick walls.
This can be overcome owing to the inherent structure (mesh) of
the wireless standard, where intermediate nodes operate as a
repeater; it is thus necessary to create within each building an
infrastructure with a number and distribution of nodes, ensuring
a proper connection and full coverage. Better performances in
this regard could be provided with a transmission frequency
band on the lower 868–902 MHz. This implementation how-
ever requires a different encoding with respect to the more
common 2.4 GHz commonly used for home automation and
consumer services, which can create interoperability problems.
The advantages as follows: no cabling required, easy inclusion
of significant data coming from other meters similarly equipped
with wireless nodes, and availability of protocols viable for
both metering and home automation. The disadvantages are as
follows: possible signal interferences and security problems due
to the use of an open physical mean. This issue has been specif-
ically addressed and reasonably worked out by the manufac-
turer of devices and protocol software developers [23], [24].
C. Powerline Connection Between the Meter and the House
A third viable solution to overcome the distance between the
meter and the household, specially advisable for architectures
employing PLC between the meter and the concentrator, is the
extension of the PLC network until the house electrical panel,
including it as a PLC network node. This installation is likely
to be done by the distribution utility operator and by using
the already installed low-voltage lines that bring energy to the
house and require very limited installation work. However, at
least two reasons make it not immediately available.
1) So far, in Europe, the communication band reserved by
the standard committees for the utilities (i.e., commu-
nication between the concentrator and meter) is Band
A (CENELEC), while the use of data over powerline
for home automation and private users is on a different
frequency range (Band C or B); in the proposed solution,
the use is mixed, so that a frequency band adaptation
seems required, or alternatively, a normative change must
be considered.
2) The protocol in use by utilities for communicating with
the meter can be a nonstandard.
The latter is a quite common problem of interoperability for
standards, and it can only be addressed with the cooperation
of utilities either in opening their protocols or in changing
them to standard solutions (see above the OPEN Meter project).
Once these problems are overcome, the PLC solution could, in
principle, be implemented even with the actual installed meter
generation. The advantage is as follows: As in the previous
solution, there is a considerable cabling reduction, with a
simple extension, through the low-voltage lines of a previously
installed network. The disadvantages are as follows: 1) The dis-
tributor could have a monopolistic advantage in offering added
services, unless some regulation is provided; 2) the network has
been optimized for system distribution, so it could not comply
BENZI et al.: ELECTRICITY SMART METERS INTERFACING THE HOUSEHOLDS
to home user requirements; 3) as previously mentioned, possi-
ble signal interferences and security problems arise due to the
use of an open physical mean; and 4) even for PLC, the fault
issue has been addressed [25].
The ability to access the data of energy consumption through
the Internet (Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)/IP network
over IPv4 or IPv6) is surely expected from many users already
accustomed to make use of Web services, e.g., for telephone
bills or bank reports. Such a communication medium can be
considered sufficiently widespread and rapidly expanding: The
most recent statistics point to a penetration rate of broadband in
the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD) countries amounting at 23.3% (OECD Report on
Broadband Penetration, December 2009), and in perspective,
one can see this as a common tool to access information even
if, for the next years, it is far from exhaustive.
D. Web-Based Communication Between the
Meter and the House
In principle, a Web-based communication between the meter
and the house can follow both Path 1 and Path 2 (see Fig. 4). To
implement the first solution (Path 1), the metering data should
access the TCP/IP network available in the house directly from
the meter, as long as a proper node or gateway is provided
on it (a cabled or wireless solution, e.g., WiFi). In this case,
the meter is seen as an addressable node in the home network
with its own IP address, and a quite effective interaction can be
enabled with the required services. Unfortunately, this solution
is hardly compatible with the present architecture provided by
most distribution networks, where, as mentioned before, the
role of the meter is ancillary so that they can make only the
raw measuring data available at a reasonable rate, while other
relevant information (namely, tariffs and contract terms) is kept
within the centralized distribution management. This suggests
that a better solution can be obtained by following Path 2.
Access to the meter data through the TCP/IP is thus imple-
mented through the network that includes the concentrator and
the remote data management already interfaced to the Web.
Finally, the data can reach the user Internet terminal though
the RG (in many cases, this is simply the access node of the
apartment to the Internet). After this connection is established,
many data can be made available, in principle, from the dis-
tribution system to the final user: the average consumption at
daily or even hourly frequencies, the statistic data, the tariff,
and the contract terms, provided that an adequate structure for
extracting and managing the data for each installed meter is
available, which is not a trivial and inexpensive goal if the
entire distribution network includes millions of end users. Such
a solution, when available, could satisfy the requirements in
order to guide the choices and behaviors of citizens on energy
[26]. However, at the state of the art of the technology, it is not
viable for “real-time” operations, i.e., the frequency data update
required for implementing many interactive functions, such as
energy monitoring and load management, is hardly reachable
for the entire amount of end consumers. The advantage is as
follows: The increasing familiarity of the citizens with the
Web services suggests that this way of communication must be
4493
associated with smart metering and exploited to spread policies
addressed at energy efficiency behaviors. The disadvantage is as
follows: At the state of the art and with the given architectures
of the data communication in energy distribution systems, the
frequency update of energy consumption data is useful only for
statistics- or tariff-related services, but it is useless for real-time
operations, such as those related to DR strategies.
VI. C ONCLUSION
The communication between electricity smart meters and
households offers a number of opportunities to the privates
and the community in a world urging for solutions intended at
energy saving. This paper has shown that a number of available
and technically sound solutions are at hand and make it possible
the implementation of a local interface offering to the end user
added services related to energy saving and home automation.
The solutions proposed and discussed here are based on open
interfaces and different physical media (twisted pair, wireless
communication, powerline, and Web); the features, advantages
and problems of each of them have been stressed. In conclu-
sion, whatever is the choice, new improved architectures are
implied for the entire grid system, where the meter should be
endowed with a greater autonomy from the concentrator and
could interact more effectively with the house, making plenty
of information and data available. A relevant role can also be
played by smart connections with other types of counters, such
as gas or water smart meters, whose installation is still at the
beginning and that, in turn, could play an important role in
creating a more complete and cooperative network relevant for
the general energy saving.
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(with honors) and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engi-
neering from the University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy, in
1993 and 1999, respectively.
She was a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Energy
Analysis Group and with the Energy Efficiency Stan-
dards Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Labora-
tory, Berkeley, CA, in 1999 and October 2000–April
2001, respectively. Since 2002, she has been an
Assistant Professor with the Department of Electrical
Engineering, University of Pavia, where she current-
ly teaches and does research in the field of energy management, energy plan-
ning, modeling, and renewable sources. Her current focus is also on efficient
compressed air systems. She has coauthored more than 30 scientific papers.
Ezio Bassi was born in Voghera, Italy, in 1951. He
received the Laurea degree in eletrical engineering
from the University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy, in 1976.
Since 2000, he has been a Full Professor of elec-
trical machines and drives with the Department of
Electrical Engineering, University of Pavia, where
he is also currently the Director. His research in-
terests include modeling of converter-fed electrical
machines, identification and control procedures of
adjustable speed drives for automation and robotics,
and integration of drives in industrial environment.
Prof. Bassi is a member of the Italian Technical Committee on Electrical
Drives.
Lucia Frosini was born in Pavia, Italy, in 1970. She
received the M.Sc. degree and the Ph.D. degree in
electrical engineering from the University of Pavia,
Pavia, in 1994 and 2000, respectively.
She is currently an Assistant Professor with the
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of
Pavia, where she is also a Lecturer of “Diagnostic
Systems for Electrical Machines and Drives” and
“Design and Technology of Electrical Machines and
Drives” in the Faculty of Engineering. She is the
author of about 50 scientific publications on journals,
books, and conference proceedings. Her research fields mainly include model-
ing and diagnostics applied to electrical machines.

Francesco Benzi (M’89) received the Laurea degree

(with honors) in electronics engineering from the
University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy, in 1978.
From 1984 to 1985, he was a Visiting Researcher
with the Wisconsin Electric Machines and Power
Electronics Consortium Laboratory, University of
Wisconsin, Madison. He is currently a Full Professor
of electrical drives with the Department of Electrical
Engineering, University of Pavia. His research in-
terests include adjustable speed drives and actuators
in industrial automation and robotics. He is also in-
volved in issues concerned with process integration, including communication
protocols for industrial and domestic environments and building automation.
Dr. Benzi is a distinguished member of the Italian Electrical and Electronics
Association, where he has served as Chairman of the Automation Committee.