1. Consumer is the primary owner of the energy usage data, and can share the data to 3rd parties
Let’s think about the telecommunication system. A user has a mobile phone (analog to the Smart Meter). The usage of the telecommunication services (call, short messages, data services, etc) can be analog to the energy utilization. A user can get all the telecommunication service utilization data from his phone (through on-phone call log, or utilization tracking application designed for Smartphone), just as a consumer shall be able to get his energy utilization data from the Smart Meter.
A user owns the data he collected from his mobile phone (Smart Meter) and can share with any one as he wants.
How to share the energy utilization data from a Smart Meter by a consumer depends on the architecture of the consumer interface, as discussed in the 1st week, but it shall not go through the Utilities’ network. A Smart Meter can provide display, removable media, internet access, and any other proprietary interfaces so that the data can be shared. The data sharing must be granted by the consumer.
An authorized third party can use the shared data and do some special services: such as providing real-time data checking to the user via internet, doing data analysis, controlling the electrical appliances automatically according to the criteria set by the end user.
2. Utility has the authority to use the energy usage data, but can not share the data to any 3rd parties
Let’s go back to the he telecommunication system again. The telecommunication operator has the data of the user’s service usage in their system for billing purpose. The same thing applies to consumer energy utilization data collected in the utilities’ server. So the Utility is the authorized user of the data, and the authority cannot be revoked.
Just as a telecom operator cannot share the user’s private data to any third parties, the Utility cannot share the user’s energy usage data to anyone else, although it can use the data as demand response for the Smart Grid operations other than the billing purpose.
The utility can also provide some services to the end user based on the end user’s data. They can do what a third party can do as mentioned in part 1. And usually there shall be some free services provided like online checking of the real-time energy usage by a consumer.
This design makes the Utility network separated from the 3rd party services and gives the customers the confidence that their data will not be abused. Offering the data to third party are totally controlled by end user and it’s the third party service provider’s responsibility to earn customers’ trust for using their data.
Allowing third parties to access the Utility network and get a consumer’s data after the consumer’s permission is another form of the architecture. It simplifies the Smart Meter interface and make efficient use of the data collected by Utility network. However, it mixes the commercial development with the utilities’ responsibilities and makes the administration complicated.
3. Smart Meter Interfaces
In order to get energy usage data from the smart meter (or via home data gateway), the interface must be defined as part of the Smart Grid Interoperability Standards. On the internet interface, a strong authentication mechanism shall be defined for mutual authentication between the Smarter Meter and 3rd party services.
The smart meter must provide dual interfaces, one for the closed utility network, and one for the public network. There is no technical barrier to implement this.
4. Sub-Meter Considerations
When a building is sub-metered, each tenant is the owner of the data for her/his suite. She/he can share the sub-meter data with 3rd parties. The building owner owns the total energy usage data of the building, but not each tenant’s data. The Smart Meter for such buildings must be designed that tenants can control their energy usage data by their own.
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