An Introduction to Advanced Metering

Infrastructure (AMI)
James Ogle, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, with research support by Daniel Boff

New Mexico Public Regulation Commission

Grid Modernization Webinar Series
March 17, 2022

This presentation was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s March 16, 2022 1
Office of Electricity and Building Technologies Office.
Agenda

► Solution Overview
► AMI and Grid Modernization
► Deployments and Policy
► AMI Cost and Benefits
► Lessons Learned
► Resources

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AMI Solution Overview

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Basic AMI Solution Structure

Business
AMI
&
Software
Operation
Systems
Meter Backhaul Enterprise & Software Operations/Business
Customer Smart Communication Network Operations Functions
Systems Meter Network Networks

Bi-directional data flows

► AMI is an integrated collection of technologies that provides a digital connection between the
consumer and utility operator

► From the utility perspective, this connection provides visibility of the state of their system at the
edge
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Smart Meter Fundamentals

Features Data
► Automated Meter Reading ► Energy and Demand (Wh, Vah, W)
► Bi-directional & net metering ► Voltage measurements
► Time-of-use Measurement ► Profile data (1m,5m,15m,30m,60m)
► Load & voltage profile data ► Outage & event logs
► Remote disconnect & connect
► Outage & restoration notification
► Tamper and theft detection
► Remote firmware/software update
► Edge intelligence & analytics
◼ Flexible advanced applications

Relevant Standards
ANSI C12 Electricity Metering March 16, 2022 5
 Communication Network Architectures & Standards

Internet Protocol (IP) Based Network Security Standards

Internet Protocol Network Standards

Standards
WiFi
Wireless/PLC Standards
3G, LTE, WiMAX, Ethernet ANSI C.12.19, C.12.22 Meter Data
( WiSUN, IEEE)

• Wireless Mesh • Fiber, Microwave,

Technologies • Powerline Carrier Cellular
• Cellular

Private & Public

Ownership Private Infrastructure Infrastructure

Business
AMI
&
Software
Operation
Systems
Meter Backhaul Enterprise & Software Operations/Business
Customer Smart Communication Network Operations Functions
Systems Meter Network Networks March 16, 2022 6
Software Infrastructure & Integrations

Enterprise and Operational Software Systems

Integration between systems unlocks
value streams: increased reliability,
reduced outage time, and customer
satisfaction

Significant network and security

infrastructure integrations required

AMI Collection and Network Management Software

► Many AMI benefits are dependent on integrating AMI systems and smart meter data with other
utility operational and business systems and functions
◼ Dependent systems should be correlated to AMI business case benefit
◼ Cost and schedule of integration is a key consideration
► Scale of smart meter data and cyber-security demands can require significant IT infrastructure
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investment
AMI and Grid Modernization

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 AMI is a Key Component of the Smart Grid

Desired Qualities of the Smart Grid Priority Functionalities of the Smart Grid

Wide Area
Increased Renewable Advanced Metering
Reliability Situational
Energy Infrastructure
Awareness

Distributed Energy
Security Energy Efficiency Demand Response Resources and
Storage

Reduction in Peak Electric Distribution Grid

Resilience
Demand Transportation Management

Consumer DOE identified AMI as a key technology for Smart Grid1

Adaptive
Engagement
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1
DOE 2010
AMI as a Foundation of Grid Modernization

Smart Meter Data

Supports

Voltage and Reactive Reliability & Outage DER Resource Consumer

Asset Management Demand Response
Power Management Management Integration Engagement
• Integrated voltage • Fault Location, • Integrated and • Equipment • Time based rates • Personalized energy
and volt-ampere Isolation, and automated DER monitoring • Direct load control usage data
reactive (VAR) Service Restoration dispatching and • Transformer • Peak demand • Personalized energy
controls (IVVC) • Automated Feeder management monitoring and reduction insights
• Automated voltage Switching • Coordination of load management • Improved reliability
regulation • Outage status customer-sited • High impedance • More accurate and
• Conservation monitoring and energy storage monitoring timely billing
voltage reduction notification • Coordinated EV
(CVR) • Optimized charging
• Real-time load restoration • Integrated resource
balancing dispatch planning
• Automated power
factor corrections

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 Multi-Service Communication
Network Strategy
The AMI communication network can
be part of an integrated grid
modernization network strategy

Communications networks create

more value when designed to serve
smart grid technology needs beyond
AMI2

Source: A Standardized and Flexible IPv6 Architecture for Field Area Networks3

2 March 16, 2022 11

DOE2016
3
Cisco2014
AMI Deployments & Policy

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 Continued Growth in Smart Meter Deployments

U.S. Smart Meter Installations Reach 107 Million in 2020 and Are
Projected to Reach 115 Million in 2021

Electric Company Smart Meter Deployments: Foundation for a Smart Grid (2021 Update) – The Edison
Foundation, Institute for Electric Innovation4
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4
IEI 2021
 Regional AMI Deployment

► 16 states (and DC) have smart meter

penetrations exceeding 50%5
► AMI penetration has been growing by
4-5% each year since 20165
► 115 million smart meters are deployed
nationally, and 75% of households
have a smart meter5
► Both urban and rural states, and
states dominated by IOUs and
cooperative/municipal utilities have
seen high uptake of AMI
infrastructure5
Source: IEI, 2021

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5
IEI 2021 1
AMI Policy Developments

► The first large scale rollout of began in 2007 with the federal Smart Grid Investment grant program,
which provided federal matching grants for smart meter deployment2
◼ This program was expanded in the 2008 Recovery Act
◼ Since then, regulators have generally approved AMI rollout on a case-by-case basis

► AMI rollout has often been integrated with broader grid modernization and general rate cases6

► While earlier rate cases faced less scrutiny, some regulators have begun placing greater scrutiny
on utility AMI plans, rejecting some broad rollouts on cost effectiveness grounds7
◼ More narrow rollouts were often approved after initial plans were rejected

► In the past few years, some utilities with near universal smart meter goals have issue rules
clarifying the conditions in which a customer can opt out of having a smart meter and what fees will
apply8
6
DOE 2016
7
NCCETC 2022 March 16, 2022 15
8
Walton 2018 1
AMI Costs & Benefits

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AMI Costs Breakdown

► Total cost of AMI deployment varied greatly

from utility to utility in DOE Smart Grid
Investment Grant program
► Costs include:
◼ Meter
◼ Communications equipment
◼ Data management systems
◼ Software & licensing
◼ Installation labor
◼ Information technology testing
◼ Project management
◼ Software integration
◼ Workforce training
Source: U.S. Department of Energy. Advanced Metering Infrastructure and
Customer Systems: Results from the Smart Grid Investment Grant Program9
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9
DOE 2016
 Benefits – Billing and Rates

► One of the most cited benefits of smart meters is that they can simplify Over a 3-year period, SGIG
utility billing and enable more sophisticated rate structures10 projects cumulatively:10
◼ More consistent and accurate billing, fewer data entry errors, and customer
• Saved $316 million in O&M
complaints
costs
◼ Utilities can also design billing schedules in occurrence with customer • Avoided 13.7 million truck
preferences, rather than meter reading schedules rolls and 68.3 million
vehicle-miles traveled
• Saved an estimated 15,160
► AMI enables advanced rate structures like time of use and critical peak tons of CO2
pricing11
◼ These rate structures can provide savings to customers and bring retail costs
more closely in line with system costs Oklahoma Gas & Electric
pricing programs in 2012
◼ Utilities can also provide customers with more sophisticated consumption
pilot resulted in annual
data to better understand their usage
savings of $198.78 for
◼ Programs like prepaid services a can also help customers avoid service residential and $570.02 for
deposits and late fees and reduce utility exposure to bad debt12 commercial customers 10
10
DOE 2016
11
Guidehouse 2022 March 16, 2022 18
12
DOE 2020 1
 Benefits – Smart Controls and DER Integration

Smart meters provide services that can help manage the impacts of DERs and renewable energy

► Smart meter-enabled analytics can help utilities with load forecasting and voltage management13
◼ Two-way information flows can help utilities understand how existing DERs are impacting the grid and
provide useful insights for grid planning

► Smart meters are also important enablers of demand response programs14

◼ In addition to providing a demand response signal, smart meters can provide customers with high usage
alerts and on-demand insights about consumption
◼ Utilities have also partnered with technology providers to develop behavioral interventions based on smart
meter data
◼ Active control of customer load can also be enabled with AMI infrastructure

13
DOE 2020 March 16, 2022 19
14
Guidehouse 2022 1
 Benefits – Reduced Outages and Operations Costs

► AMI provide utilities with detailed information on their network, which can reduce distribution outage
time and costs15
◼ Smart meter data can be integrated with GIS to provide utilities with sophisticated outage information
◼ This improved information can help restore service more quickly and efficiently and be shared with
customers and first responders

► Smart meters also allow utilities to provide remote connect and disconnect services to provide more
flexible processes as when they change addresses16
◼ Being able to control service remotely can also reduce the number of required truck rolls and improve the
customer experience

► Smart meters provide data to optimize electric system

◼ Voltage monitoring can be used for automated voltage and reactive power management and Conservation
Voltage Reduction (CVR) reducing line losses, peak demands, and energy savings

Central Lincoln Peoples Utility District implemented a CVR pilot

March 16, 2022 20
15
DOE 2016
16
DOE 2020
program resulting in a 2% energy savings for all customers15 2
 Case Study – Hurricane Sandy and Outage Management

► When hurricane Sandy made landfall on the east coast in 2012, utilities have varying levels of
smart meter penetration
◼ Pepco (DC, MD, DE) had about 50% of homes outfitted with smart meters, PECO (PA) had 10%, BGE
(MD) had 10%, NJ utilities have very little smart meter penetration17
► Though Pepco saw over 130,000 outages, they were able to restore service to 95% of customers
within 48 hours
◼ Restoration in other territories took much longer
◼ In other extreme weather events Pepco has reported that AMI has allowed them to avoid over 3,000 truck
rolls
► PECO reported that they were able to reduce outage time for 50,000 customers due to information
from smart meters, and that they avoided over 6,000 truck rolls

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17
Martin, 2012; Tweed 2012; Johnson 2012 2
 Case Study – Smart Meter Data Enables New Insights

Using the “15 by 15” rule to protect privacy, Illinois Citizens Utility board conducted study using smart meter data
from the summer of 2018 for 2.5 million electric customers (Comed & Ameren)18

► Identified potential energy equity questions

◼ Low-income customers use less electricity and contribute
less to grid’s peak load.
◼ Because peak load drives overall system cost higher,
low-income customers could be paying more for their fair
share of electricity

► Smart meter data can support utilities and policymakers

◼ Evaluate effects of rates structures
• Time-dependent rates
◼ Inform efficiency programs and environment
• Where to focus customer engagement
• Identify where to find success for lessons learned
18
PowerGrid International2019
15 by 15 rule: customers location can’t be
included in the data if 15 or fewer customers
live in a given area, or if a customer represents
15% or more of the load in that area.
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2
Lessons Learned

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 Challenges to AMI Business Cases

► States without significant AMI penetration include HI, MA, RI, NJ, UT, NM and WV19
◼ Of these, regulators in HI, NJ, MA, and UT have approved AMI rollout, though deployment has been limited to date
◼ In many of these cases regulators rejected initial AMI plans due to cost effectiveness, but approved revised plans at
a later date20
◼ In general, criticisms of AMI have centered around cost effectiveness, cybersecurity, and data privacy13

► Regulatory rejections of AMI proposals have often been related to vagueness, poor cost benefit analysis,
and cost allocation issues20
◼ Phased and targeted investment plans have been approved while only parts of bigger proposals were approved
◼ Data from a pilot may be useful for demonstrating different value streams

► A positive cost-benefit analysis is not necessarily enough

◼ Need to understand the full range of near-term and future benefit and timeline to achieve them
◼ New York Public Service Commission requires the utility to specify and prioritize the quantified and
unquantified benefits – including grid edge computing21
19
◼ Stakeholders establish a future vision and benefits timeline, measure progress, and adjust
IEI 2022 March 16, 2022 24
20
21
NCCETC 2022
St. John2021
2
Data Privacy and Cybersecurity

► Some states require aggregation and compliance with standards Know your

like green button to prevent privacy issues22 data

◼ The 15/15 rule is a common way to address privacy issues

◼ Protocols such as Green Button Connect My Data can allow
customers to securely share their meter data with solar and Govern
Data
Protect
Protection
efficiency providers your data
Strategies16
your data

◼ Illinois Commerce Commission ruled in 2017 that data must be

shared
◼ Application of IT inspired data protection and governance strategies
Prevent
can help mitigate concerns23 data loss
Microsoft23

► Smart meters can be vulnerable to malware and other cyber attacks, and should be encrypted to
ensure consumer privacy and limit security risks24
◼ Utilities and vendors have matured integrating system-wide cybersecurity into hardware, software, and
operations
22
◼ Communication and data standards have defined cybersecurity profiles Schwartz and Homer 2020
Vandeenberg 2021 23 March 16, 2022 25
24
Redondo et al. 2020
 Realizing Customer Benefits through Customer
Engagement and Empowerment

► Energy efficiency benefits are dependent on engaged and informed

Some customer benefits, such
customer
as energy efficiency, require
◼ Benefits are more likely to be realized through targeted, personalized customer engagement which is
energy insights25 likely to require additional
◼ Pairing data with customer engagement tools, pricing strategies, and back-office tools. This may
programs with incentives and services that enable, motivate, and raise the cost of AMI
support customers to act and make changes25 deployment, but without them
AMI investment may not
deliver on targeted customer
► Providing data to non-utility service providers supports customer benefits.25
engagement and AMI customer benefits
◼ DTE Electric Company partnered with Powerley to provide a mobile based
application powered by smart meter data to supply customers personalized
insights and recommendations25
◼ DTE residential change programs achieved 62.7 GWh of energy savings and
reduced demand by 23.6 MW in 201826

25
Gold2020 March 16, 2022 26
26
DTE Electric2019
 Integrating AMI into the Utility Systems

► Large volumes of smart meter data can overwhelm traditional utility IT/OT In survey of 56 AMI
systems projects from DOE
◼ Data management infrastructure can be a significant cost. Smart Grid Investment
◼ Data processing and management infrastructure upgrades need to be part of AMI Grant, data
strategy management and
system integration
averaged 17% of
► System Integration can be complex and time consuming
overall project cost.27
◼ Integrating AMI with other operational systems often resulted in unexpected cost and
schedule delays17
◼ Integrating with 3rd party service providers can be challenging due to inconsistent
data formats and transport protocols (such as Green Button Connect My Data)

► Smart meters dramatically increase the scale of utilities connected devices

◼ Deploying and managing field network connections can require workforce
development in wireless communications
◼ IT processes must scale to provision, monitor, upgrade, secure smart meter
27
DOE2016
connections March 16, 2022 27
Resources

March 16, 2022 28

Citations

► Cisco,A Standardized and Flexible IPv6 Architecture for Field Area Networks: Smart-Grid Last-Mile Infrastructure, January 2014.
https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en_us/solutions/industries/docs/energy/ip_arch_sg_wp.pdf
► Douglass, Elizabeth, and Maria Gallucci. “A Smart Grid Primer: Complex and Costly, but Vital to a Warming World.” Inside Climate News (blog), December 4, 2012.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/04122012/smart-grid-superstorm-sandy-climate-change-global-warming-electrical-grid-smart-meters-obama-doe-stimulus-dollars/.
► Díaz Redondo, Rebeca P., Ana Fernández-Vilas, and Gabriel Fernández dos Reis. “Security Aspects in Smart Meters: Analysis and Prevention.” Sensors 20, no. 14
(2020): 3977. https://doi.org/10.3390/s20143977.
► DTE Electric Company, DTE Electric Company’s Application for Approval of the Reconciliation of its Energy Waste Reduction Plan Expenses for the Plan Year 2018. Case No.
U-20366, May 31, 2019. https://mi-psc.force.com/sfc/servlet.shepherd/version/download/068t0000004n98cAAA
► Gold, Rachel, Waters, and Dan York “Leveraging Advanced Metering Infrastructure To Save Energy”, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, January 2020.
https://www.aceee.org/research-report/u2001
► Guidehouse. AI at the Grid Edge How Inside-the-Meter Analytics Drive Value at the Grid Edge. Grid4C, 2021. https://www.grid4c.com/hubfs/2021/AI-at-the-grid-edge.pdf.
► Institute for Electric Innovation. Electric Company Smart Meter Deployments: Foundation for a Smart Grid (2021 Update). The Edison Foundation, April 2021.
https://www.edisonfoundation.net/-/media/Files/IEI/publications/IEI_Smart_Meter_Report_April_2021.ashx.
► Johnson, Tom. “Smart Grid, Meters, No Magic Bullet for Damage Done by Major Storms.” WNYC, December 4, 2012.
https://www.wnyc.org/story/255028-smart-grid-meters-no-magic-bullet-damage-done-major-storms/.
► LaMonica, Martin. “Smart Meters Help Utility Speed Sandy Restoration.” MIT Technology Review, October 31, 2012.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2012/10/31/181946/smart-meters-help-utility-speed-sandy-restoration/.
► North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center. 50 States of Grid Modernization: 2021 Review, February 2022.
https://nccleantech.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Q42020-GridMod-Exec-Final.pdf

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2
Citations
► PowerGrid International, ”Illinois smart meter data illustrates demographic divides in electricity use”, June 27, 2019.
https://www.power-grid.com/der-grid-edge/illinois-smart-meter-data-illustrates-demographic-divides-in-electricity-use/#gref
► Schwartz, Lisa, and Juliet Homer. Distribution Planning Regulatory Practices, October 13, 2020.
https://eta-publications.lbl.gov/sites/default/files/9._distribution_planning_regulatory_practices_fin2.pdf.
► St. John, Jeff, “Dispatches From The Grid Edge”, GreenTech Media (blog), January 07, 2021.
https://www.greentechmedia.com/squared/dispatches-from-the-grid-edge/how-to-ensure-the-next-generation-of-smart-meters-are-smart-enough-for-the-grid-edge
► Tweed, Katherine. “A Smart Meter in the Superstorm.” Greentech Media (blog), November 15, 2012.
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/a-smart-meter-in-the-superstorm.
► U.S. Department of Energy. Advanced Metering Infrastructure and Customer Systems: Results from the Smart Grid Investment Grant Program, September 2016.
https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2016/12/f34/AMI%20Summary%20Report_09-26-16.pdf.
► U.S. Department of Energy. AMI In Review: Informing the Conversation, July 2020. https://smartgrid.gov/files/documents/AMI_Report_7_8_20_final_compressed.pdf.
► U.S. Department of Energy. Communications Requirements of Smart Grid Technologies, October 5, 2010.
https://www.energy.gov/gc/downloads/communications-requirements-smart-grid-technologies
► Walton, Robert. “As Kentucky Regulators Reject Smart Meter Plans, Troubling Trend Continues for AMI.” Utility Dive (blog), August 21, 2018.
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/as-kentucky-regulators-reject-smart-meter-plans-troubling-trend-continues/531384/.
► Vandenberg, Steve, ”Privacy compliance for smart meter infrastructure with Microsoft Information Protectoin and Azure Preview”. Microsoft (blog), June 2, 2021.
https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2021/06/02/privacy-compliance-for-smart-meter-infrastructure-with-microsoft-information-protection-and-azure-purview/

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3
Contact

James Ogle
James.Ogle@pnnl.gov
509-375-7715

March 16, 2022 31