The new generation of smart meters

The new E-Distribuzione 2.0 (2G) smart meter is taking the place of the electronic one in Italy, which already took over from the electromechanical one in 2001. The new smart meter allows the distributor to accurately and “temporally certify” energy consumption through convenient (remote) operations and can thus send suppliers more exact data.

The new meter has the features provided for by the technical specifications adopted by the italian Authority for Electricity, Gas and the Water System (ARERA) with resolution 87/2016, which also established a series of performance indicators concerning energy efficiency. This innovation will offer users increasingly accurate information for monitoring consumption, enabling innovative smart home services in IoT perspective, encouraging virtuous behavior thanks to the greater awareness that translates itself into benefits in terms of energy efficiency.

The second step: experimental monitoring 

On 31 December 2018 ended the experimentation phase relating the performance monitoring under real conditions of the communication via PLC-C (Chain 2 “monitoring”) between the E-Distribution Open Meter meter and the User Device (DU). The purpose of that monitoring was to observe the quality of the communication performance on PLC-C (Chain 2) with reference to the response between the messages sent by the 2G meter and the messages received by the user device installed in the field. Starting from January 2019, a preliminary phase began where the subjects managing a user device, who proved interested in enabling the communication service via Chain 2 with the Open Meter, began to sign a contract dedicated to the service. Finally, after the first experiences and following a public consultation, the combined provisions of the authority’s decisions and the regulatory update of the Italian Electrotechnical Committee determined the final phase called “chain2 Full 2.0” which is more likely to start from October 2020 and which will make all the functions of the new meter available.

Beeta Power, the powerful smart meter reader

Tera has successfully participated in the experimentation started by E-Distribuzione using its own Beeta Power user device, which communicates with the new 2.0 meters.

Is it possible to know in real time how much I’m consuming? Or how much is my photovoltaic system producing?

Yes. The smart meter reader interacts with both Beeta Box and GIoE, respectively IoT gateway for Smart Home & Building and IoT gateway for Smart Industry, and detects exact data displayed via app, providing users useful knowledge about their energy consumption with low connection voltage, both single-phase and three-phase. In case of a photovoltaic plant,, the system also reads the production meter providing values both in kWh and in euros, thus implementing an easy and fast control mechanism that optimizes the performance of the system and allows user to save money.