Jon Milan: Keeping the Consumer Preferences

This posted to smartgrid@ostp.gov by Jon Milan

My schooling is in electrical engineering (digital systems), with many years engineering integrated manufacturing solutions, public safety solutions, and now residential automation solutions.

Aside from the reliability requirements for the backbone of smart grid solution, I’d like to emphasize some key requirements for the consumer environment as I see them.

First, the consumer's in-home or in-building interface must be robust. More specifically, the power distribution point within the consumer's building must not be adversely affected by the presence or absence of the consumer's interface. Unintentional or malicious activities at the consumer's interface should not propagate through the smart grid system.

Second, the consumer's in-home or in-building interface must be private and secure. Third, the consumer interface must be open, i.e. the interface must be publicly available for use by suppliers as they see fit. Many homes have intelligent systems already installed, and these suppliers will want to interface with the distribution panel within the home.

I have already seen that distribution of smart thermostats is moving into the area of public utility companies. I do not recommend this. The public utility companies should have responsibility to the utility meter, to include their network interface (wireless or wired). From there, private enterprise should be responsible for equipment within the home.

Jon Milan