Overview of smart metering initiatives

Recently smart metering initiatives began to attract much attention worldwide. Smart metering promises many benefits and projects in various countries show that smart metering is techno-economically feasible. Due to cost-effectiveness and to maximize energy efficiency, several governments are thinking of giving mandate for advanced metering. The Advanced Metering Infrastructure will allow electricity to be charged according to demand based tariffs. However future of Smart metering depends upon the various policies by governments and regulatory bodies. Energy savings and an increased security of supply will be main drivers for smart metering and as a means to reach these goals. This paper describes the purpose of smart metering, advanced metering infrastructure and use of smart meters to achieve smart grid. This paper also discusses the progress of implementation in various countries and initiatives taken up in India. Extensive literature survey has been done to describe the smart metering concepts, implementation aspects and the initiatives taken worldwide.