ADVANCED METERING
INFRASTRUCTURE
AMI
• AMI stands for advanced metering infrastructure (smart meters)
• Smart meters are the foundation for smart grid
• Measure energy, demand and power quality
• AMI also involves infrastructure of communications
• Software applications
• Interfaces related to exchange of data between the electric utility the meter
and the consumer
SMART METER FUNCTIONS
• Two-way communications between the utility and the meter
• Recording of usage intervals of 15 or 60 min
• Sending of data to the utility at least daily
• Internal switch to disconnect or disconnect power
• HAN interface
• Recording of power quality information such as voltage and outages
• Functionality to ensure reliable and secure data communications
EVOLUTION OF ELECTRIC METER
• Electricity meters are typically calibrated in billing units, the most
common one being the kilowatt hour (kWh)
• Most residential meters are of the single-phase type, whereas most
commercial and industrial customers require three-phase metering.
• Residential customers are charged a flat energy (kWh) rate, and
commercial and industrial customers are charged an energy rate as
well as a maximum demand rate (kW).
• Electric Meter classification:
• Electromechanical
• Electronic
• Electromechanical induction watt-hour meter is the most common
type.
ELECTROMECHANICAL INDUCTION WATT-HOUR METER
• Operates by counting the revolutions of
an aluminum disk
• Speed proportional to the power
through the meter to the load
• Number of revolutions is thus
proportional to the energy usage
• Cumulative energy is ready via the
dials on the meter
• Someone must be physically present to
write down the readings on the meter.
• Meters are read on a regular basis and
entered manually into customer
database.
DRAWBACKS OF ELECTROMECHANICAL METERS
• Inefficient: Sending utility employees to walk house to house to manually
read each meter and record each customer electricity usage is labor
intensive
• Inaccurate: While the meters themselves are prone to inaccuracies, the
manual meter reading and manual data entry into the billing system is also
a source of error.
• Tamper prone: Tampering with electromechanical meters to reduce the
amount of energy registered by the meters can be one of the major sources
of energy losses in a utility T&D system.
• No remote monitoring or control functionality
• No consumer visibility of energy usage
ELECTRONIC METERS
• Without detailed or real-time information on
energy usage and time-based energy pricing,
consumers have much less ability to reduce
or time-shift energy usage and save money
on their bills.
• Next generation of meters were developed
using microprocessors, which included
communications interfaces and data storage
capability.
• Benefits of Electronic Meters
• No moving parts
• More accuracy
• More functionality
• Software programmable features
• Smart meters are electronic meters that also
have a communications interface for
communicating with the utility.
EVOLUTION OF METERING TECHNOLOGY
• Electromechanical meters are still the most predominant type
• Significant investment is required in terms of replacing them with
smart meters
• Smart meter applications
• Capability of remotely connecting or disconnecting power to the customer at
the meter
• Power quality monitoring
• Remote diagnostics capabilities
• Communicating time of use rates (pricing signals) to customers
• Supporting various communications technologies—home area network
(HAN)—interfaces that allow the meters to communicate not only to the utility
but also to the customer
EVOLUTION OF METER READING
Automated Meter Reading
(AMR)
Short Range Radio Frequency
One way fixed communication
Two way communication
The advanced capabilities of the meters and the communications system, and the
integration of the meter data into the utility billing and customer information
systems (CISs) became known as the AMI.
AMI SYSTEM
BENEFITS OF AMI
• Valuable outage detection data that can be integrated with outage management
systems.
• Tamper and theft detection and notification help in utility revenue recovery.
• More accurate meter reads and improved billing, and a reduction in customer
complaints.
• A key facilitator for demand management programs. Consumers can receive
price signals and more frequent and timely energy usage information so that
they are aware of how much their energy use is costing and the value of
conservation or efficiency investments.
• More customer information for the utility: The meter data that continuously
stream in to the utility provides valuable information that can be used to make
real-time operational decisions, as well as long-term decisions about planning
and maintenance.
• The AMI communications link can also be used for other services to the
customer, such as Internet access. Such access, along with real-time access via
in-home displays that connect to the smart meter HAN interface, has been shown
to reduce total consumption by an average of 8.7% .
• Some utilities are also trying to leverage the AMI communications system for
other utility applications, such as communications for distribution automation.
DISADVANTAGES OF AMI
• Loss of privacy since more detailed energy usage information
is available from each customer meter.
• Greater potential for monitoring or interception of customer
data by unauthorized third parties.
• Increased security risks from network or remote access.
AMI SECURITY THREATS
• AMI systems are implemented over a wide variety of infrastructures.
Designs include both wired and wireless communications as well as a mix
of public and private networks.
• Compromise of control (i.e., system intrusion)
• Misuse of identity or authority to gain inappropriate depth of access
• Exposure of confidential or sensitive information
• Denial of service or access
• Breach of system, import of errors (integrity)
• Unauthorized use (authorization)
• Unidentified use/misuse (authentication)
• Manipulation and destruction of records (auditability/proof)
• Delayed/misdirected/lost messages (reliability)
• Loss due to system (loss/damage
AMI PROTOCOLS
• ANSI C.12.18 and C.12.19
• Formulated to standardize the configuration, data gathering, and
link layer communication to the meter
• Standard defines a set of flexible data structures for use in metering
products.
• Defines a table structure for utility application data to be passed
between an electricity meter and a typical handheld device carried
by a meter reader or a meter communication module
• IEC 61968-9 Common Information Model
• The IEC 61968 series have been devised to facilitate integration for
various distributed software applications supporting the
management of utility electrical distribution networks
SMART ENERGY PROFILE
• The Smart-Energy Profile 2.0 is being developed to create a standard
and interoperable protocol that connects smart energy devices in the
home to the Smart Grid.
• The SEP 2.0 protocol is built around the notion of function-sets ex.
metering, pricing and demand-response load control (DRLC).
• Function-sets enable informed consumer participation in managing
energy consumption in home and participating in the Utilities’ efforts
to manage peak-demand loads in the Grid.
• The metering function set allows devices to get usage-information from
the smart-meter or any other device that has metering capability (e.g.,
a smart-appliance or a sub-meter).
• An SEP compliant application running on a smartphone, tablet or a
dedicated display device, could present to users real-time energy
consumption information for the whole home.
ELECTRIC VEHICLE BILLING
INTEGRATION WITH UTILITY ENTERPRISE APPLICATIONS
• AMI must be able to integrate seamlessly with other smart grid
enterprise applications in order to realize the full benefit of exchanging
data between the AMI, OMS, and DMS in addition to meter-related
applications of billing and the CIS.
