What is a smart meter?

Smart meters are digital new generation meter which can measure the energy uses in real time
and send it directly to energy supplier/distributer regularly. It can display the energy usage
and energy provider can send the feedback on the costing and usage on the real time basis.
Smart meter provides a channel for direct communication between supplier and consumer so
the company can get the accurate energy usage in real time hence able to control the demand
dynamically. There will be no haseel of meter reading, bill generation and payment issues. It
uses mobile and wireless technology for transmitting real time data.
What are the benefits of having a smart meter?
More Reliable Service
Through the two way communication between consumer and energy provider the grid allows
identifying outages and quicker solving the service problems
See Your Daily Energy Use
one can able to view historical usage information , cost , consumption pattern and analysis on
these so that he can make a informed decision to use energy efficiently in the future resulting
cost saving and energy conservation
Smart Devices and Smart Homes
One can able to lower the cost and usage on the time based usage. Smart meters can able to
cut off the power usage automatically based on preset time so that the energy can be saved.
Smart devices can help to conserve energy through sensor based technology to use minimal
energy and cuts when its not in use.
Better Usage of Renewable Power
Smart meter can switch your energy usage to renewable energy installed on your place . It
helps to manage better all sources of power. It can able to switch between solar panel, power
plants , bio gas plants, wind sources etc resulting effective uses of non conventional energy
and saves conventional energy whenever and wherever possible .
Energy Alerts

Through the energy elert to ur mobile devices and email from the smart meter alerts you to
entering a high priced energy segment due to extra usage. It alerts you to enter in each
segment/tier of energy price band during your billing cycle, it helps to influence the
motivation in avoiding extra un necessary usage.

Smart grid: A grid suitable for renewable energy

The conventional electric grid is a network of transmission lines, substations, transformers
and more that deliver electricity from power plants to homes and industry. However, with
increasing global industrialization and population growth, the grid is being stretched,
resulting in the increased likelihood of failures during peak load hours.
In addition, the current grid has difficulty accommodating variable sources of power like
wind and solar energy. As these resources begin to supply increasing percentages of power to
the grid, integrating them into grid operations is becoming increasingly difficult.
Consequently, there is a need for the development of a highly reliable, self-regulating and
efficient grid system which will allow the integration of renewable distributed power
generation. The answer lies in the smart grid.
Smart grid: the Energy Internet
A smart grid provides power utilities with digital intelligence to the power system network. It
comes with smart metering techniques, digital sensors, and intelligent control systems with
analytical tools. It enables the two-way flow of energy from power to plug to be automated,
monitored and controlled.
The smart grid has been described as the Energy Internet, which can turn the electric power
infrastructure into a two-way network built on a standard Internet Protocol (IP) network. It
uses a large number of smaller, discrete distributed plants instead of single high-producing
plants, so reduces the risk of attacks and natural disasters. Even if such a major problem
should occur, the smart grid, being a self-healing network, will restore itself quickly by
isolating the particular line and re-routing the power supply.
Multiple advantages
The benefits that the smart grid can bring are best appreciated by looking at an actual
implementation.
Duke Energy is one of the largest electric power companies in the United States, delivering
energy to approximately 7.2 million customers. In 2007, Duke began a 10-year
comprehensive grid modernization program.

The resulting smart grid has reduced outages and improved power quality for its customers in
Ohio and the Carolinas. By deploying smart grid technologies and integrating them with
upgraded back-end information management systems, Duke has improved operational
efficiencies, optimized voltage, automated self-healing disruption response, and expanded
smart grid technologies to other service territories using lessons learned.
By August 2014, Dukes 30 self-healing device groups in Ohio had activated 84 times,
reducing outage frequency and duration. Three activations alone in 2013 saved 1.2 million
customer minutes of interruptions. One event maintained service to a large hospital, while
another maintained operation to a key substation.
The company also deployed 966,000 smart meters in Ohio and the Carolinas, which have
significantly improved bill accuracy and reduced customer calls. Meters also help pinpoint
outages and dispatch repair crews more quickly.
These benefits were achieved through the deployment of a variety of smart grid technologies.
These include advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) with an upgraded meter data
management system (MDMS), distribution automation, integrated voltage/VAR control
(IVVC), a new distribution management system (DMS), electric vehicle charging stations, a
customer web portal, and customer pricing pilots.
The smart grid and renewable energy
Historically, integration of small-scale renewable energy sources into a traditional grid causes
problems. These include voltage fluctuations and harmonic distortions, which require
synchronization of the sources with the grid. Smart grid, on the other hand, optimizes these
problems by preventing outages and allowing consumers to manage energy usage. This
technology enables various options to add energy to the grid at transmission and distribution
levels through distributed generation and storage.
In other words, the smart grid makes better use of renewable energy resources. It gives grid
operators new tools to reduce power demand quickly when wind or solar power dips, and it
has more energy storage capabilities to absorb excess wind and solar power when it isn't
needed, then to release that energy when the wind and solar power dips. In effect, energy
storage will help to smooth out the variability in wind and solar resources, making them
easier to use.

Smart grid and demand response

Demand response provides an opportunity for consumers to play a significant role in the
operation of the electric grid by reducing or shifting their electricity usage during peak
periods in response to time-based rates or other forms of financial incentives. Demand
response programs are being used by electric system planners and operators as resource
options for balancing supply and demand. Such programs can lower the cost of electricity in
wholesale markets, and in turn, lead to lower retail rates.
The smart grid offers multiple opportunities to develop demand response programs. For
example, sensors can perceive peak load problems and utilize automatic switching to divert
or reduce power in strategic places, removing the chance of overload and the resulting power
failure. Advanced metering infrastructure expands the range of time-based rate programs that
can be offered to consumers and smart customer systems such as in-home displays. Homearea-networks can make it easier for consumers to changes their behavior and reduce peak
period consumption from information on their power consumption and costs.
These programs also have the potential to help electricity providers save money through
reductions in peak demand and the ability to defer construction of new power plants and
power delivery systems specifically, those reserved for use during peak times.
Smart grid in developing countries
The smart grid has been gaining much interest in developing countries like India, China and
Brazil because of its increased energy efficiency, stability, security, economic improvements
and reduced environmental impacts.
China has embarked on a 10-year project to build a smart grid to catapult its power
transmission into the digital age, securing electricity supplies and boosting energy
conservation. It is estimated that development of the smart grid in China could lead to 15
million new jobs in that country.
India has devised a scheme called Restructured Accelerated Power Development and
Reforms Programme (R-APDRP) to address the upgrading of the Indian transmission system
to smart grids at an estimated cost of $10 billion over five years.

Within the context of European smart grid projects, research is going ahead with a view to
developing a smart grid in Turkey to provide stable, low cost reliable power.
Gradual evolution
The smart grid will consist of millions of pieces and parts controls, computers, power lines,
and new technologies and equipment. It will take some time for all the technologies to be
perfected, equipment installed, and systems tested before it comes fully on line. And it wont
happen all at once the smart grid will evolve, piece by piece, over time. But when mature,
the smart grid promises to bring the same kind of transformation that the Internet has already
brought to the way we live, work, play, and learn.

http://www.pge.com/en/myhome/customerservice/smartmeter/benefits/index.page
http://www.forbes.com/sites/federicoguerrini/2014/06/01/smart-meters-friends-or-foesbetween-economic-benefits-and-privacy-concerns/