Smart meters are capable of collecting many more variables than traditional ones and in a more precise way. Additionally, they allow remote reading and operation from the electricity company and offer the possibility that the customer can have access to their electricity consumption data , opening a wide range of possibilities.
In countries where the degree of deployment of smart meters is more advanced, citizen movements are emerging against these meters, mainly due to privacy issues. This is because when monitoring our electricity consumption, our habits and behaviors are also indirectly monitored: when we get up and go to bed, when we are at home, when we turn on the washing machine, etc. For all these reasons, smart meters are also known as “the big brother”. Moreover, in some countries such as the Netherlands, they have legislated so that the consumer can reject the installation of a smart meter, considering that frequent meter readings violate the right to respect privacy and family life.
This is how they work in Spain
In our country, and for the peace of mind of readers, the Spanish Agency for Data Protection considers electricity consumption data with a medium level of protection (similar to bank data), which could lead to heavy fines for electricity companies if they are used improperly.
The smart meters that are currently being deployed in Spain collect and store electricity consumption every hour , to form what is known as the “load curve” and which is used mainly to generate the electricity bill. If this curve is processed and put into value, it can offer new services both for the final energy consumer, as well as for the electricity companies.
For example, some of these applications are: the detection of consumption of appliances in stand-by , the realization of normative comparisons on electricity consumption between neighbors or inhabitants of a city, the disaggregation of the electricity bill by type of load (consumption in air conditioning , lighting, electrical appliances, etc.), tools to optimize the necessary square meters of solar panels or to help improve energy efficiency in the home by estimating the savings that would occur on the bill, smart thermostats that self-regulate depending on the price of electricity, etc.
In the coming years we will see how traditional electricity companies will begin to evolve their business models. The most innovative will go from a model focused on the sale of kWh, to a model where the sale of energy will share the limelight with other value-added services such as the examples we have seen . This evolution in their business models, also known as “Long Tail”, has already been consolidated by well-known companies such as Amazon or Netflix and others are in the process, such as telecommunications operators.
Ovidio González de Uña is a doctoral student at the University of Seville. Article written in collaboration with the UCC + i of the University of Seville.
