A SMART METERING FOR ENERGY

MANAGEMENT SYSTEM VIA GSM-SMS BASED

PROTOCOL

AZHAR FAKEARUDDIN

Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA PAHANG

ABSTRACT

Energy resources and their management is one of the prime challenges to world especially developing countries like Malaysia where the significant contribution to energy generation is based on imported resources. In the mean time the elasticity curve is having a reasonable difference between growing demand and installation capacity. A study of local electricity structure shows that the individual user's consumption pattern is not a responsible one which leaves opportunity for policy makers to introduce new habit formation programmes like variable time pricing etc. This research model helps to create a better understanding and awareness towards the value and the importance of electrical energy, energy saving, promoting of smart energy management as well as an innovation towards further improvement to proven existing system. In this research a brief description about smart metering and the trends in meters from 'traditional' to 'smart' is provided. Feedback and its affect on a consumer's habit formation is a focus of literature. The system design consists of a cellular based power monitoring system using SMS protocol for data transmission. The designed system is compatible with all type of existing monitoring setups at consumer's end. The proposed monitoring system consist of a new energy calculation algorithm, offering electricity packages with a intelligent monitoring for daily power consumption connected to base-station via GSM network. In addition, the prototype designed aims to monitor the consumption records, send it periodically to the server to update to the relevant user profile, provide feedback alerts to the consumer on demand and also provide a better control to utility over individual user. With this proposed methodology, the end users are provided with proper awareness and they may plan their electrical consumption pattern. User are given plenty and incentives based on different time and consumption volume factors thus peak power consumption can be reduced and also wastage of electricity can be reduced until a specific level. The designed prototype proved to be a real-time and effective in individual data collection. It proved to be error free when compared to a manual metering data collection process. One of the most interesting features of the designed module "GSM-PRO" is that it doesn't need any replacement in currently existing monitoring systems. The intelligent pulse reading section of the meter made it compatible with both type of metering systems either it is an electromechanical meter or electronic one. is also provided a wider control to utility over individual user in case of any fraud monitoring or supply interruption.

vi

VII

ABSTRAK

Sumber tenaga dan pengurusan adalah salah satu cabaran utama kepada dunia terutamanya negara-negara membangun seperti Malaysia apabila sumber-sumber yang diimport memberikan sumbangan yang signifikan kepada sumber tenaga.Sementara itu, keluk keanjalan mempunyai perbezaan yang ketara antara permintaan yang semakin meningkat dengan kapasiti pemasangan. Satu kajian setempat terhadap strukiur elektrik menunjukkan bahawa pola penggunaan individu yang tidak bertanggungjawab apabila membiarkan penggubal polisi memperkenalkan program-program pembentukan baru seperti pembolehubah terhadap penentuan harga masa dan sebagainya. Model penyelidikan mi membantu untuk mewujudkan pemahaman yang lebih baik clan kesedaran terhadap nilai dan kepentingan tenaga elektrik, penjimatan tenaga, menggalakkan pengurusan tenaga secara bijak serta memandu inovasi ke arah penambahbaikan sistern yang tersedia ada. Dalarn kajian mi, fokus literatur adalah penerangan ringkas terhadap 'Meter Smart' dan pola dalam meter daripada 'tradisional' kepada 'pintaf yang dapat memberikan makium balas clan kesan ke atas pembentukan sikap pengguna. Reka bentuk sistem terdiri daripada sistem pemantauan berasaskan kuasa selular menggunakan protokol SMS untuk penghantaran data. Sistern yang direka bersesuaian dengan semua jenis susunan monitor yang tersedia ada pada pengguna terakhir. Sistern monitor yang dicadangkan terdiri daripada algoritma pengiraan tenaga baru, yang menawarkan pakej elektrik dengan pengawasan yang bijak bagi penggunaan kuasa harian yang disambungkan ke stesen pangkalan melalui rangkaian GSM. Di samping itu, prototaip yang direka bertujuan untuk memantau rekod penggunaan, menghantar secara berkala kepada stesen penerima untuk mengemas kini profil pengguna, memberi isyarat makiurn balas kepada pengguna apabila diminta dan juga menyediakan kawalan yang lebih baik terhadap penggunaan individu. Dengan kaedah yang dicadangkan mi, pengguna diseberikan kesedaran yang betul clan mereka boleh merancang corak penggunaan elektrik mereka. Pengguna diberikan pelbagai insentif berdasarkan masa yang berbeza clan faktor penggunaan kuasa boleh dikurangkan clan juga pembaziran tenaga elektrik dapat dikurangkan sehingga tahap yang tertentu. Prototaip yang direka bentuk mi terbukti dapat menepati masa clan berkesan dalam pengumpulan data individu. lajuga bebas daripada ralatjika dibandingkan dengan proses pengumpulan data pemeteran secara manual. Salah satu daripada ciri-ciri yang paling menarik dalam modul "GSM-Pro" mi adalah ia tidak memerlukan sebarang penggantian terhadap sistem pemantauan yang sudah tersedia ada. Nadi yang memberi bacaan kepada meter serasi dengan kedua-dua jenis sistem pemeteran sama ada meter elektromekanik atau elektronik. Ia juga menyediakan kawalan yang Iebih luas terhadap penggunaan oleh pengguna untuk mengesan sebarang penipuan dalam monitor atau gangguan bekalan.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page SUPERVISOR'S DECLARATION STUDENT'S DECLARATION DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v ABSTRACT vi ABSTRAK vii TABLE OF CONTENTS viii LIST OF TABLES xii LIST OF FIGURES xiii LIST OF NOMENCLATURES xv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Xvi

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background 1 1.2 The unwanted electricity peak 4

1.2.1 User awareness is a key to resolve peak 6 load demand

1.2.2 The embedded system design or Smart 6 metering implementation

1.2.3 Smart metering in Asian regions 7 1.2.4 Malaysian experience about smart metering 8

1.3 Problem Statement 8 1.4 Research Objective 9 1.5 Hypothesis 10 1.6 Scope Of Thesis io 1.7 Thesis Organization 10

viii

CHAPTER 2 SMART METERING AND ELECTRICITY DEMAND

2.1 Introduction ii

2.2 What Smart Metering is all About? 11

2.2.1 World Is Turning to Smart Metering 11 2.2.2 Smart Meters, What They Do? 12 2.2.3 Smart Metering and AMI 13 2.2.4 Smart Meters and Demand Response 15 2.2.5 Current Projects on Smart Metering 17 2.2.6 EU Legislation and Initiatives on Smart 22

Metering 2.2.7 The Future of Smart Metering 23

2.3 The Electricity Meters: from Traditional' to 24 'Smart' 2.3.1 Real time monitoring in power systems 25

and networks 2.3.2 Case Study of Taiwan 27

2.4 Feedback and Habit Formation 28

2.4.1 Attitudes and Behavior 28 2.4.2 Energy Consumption Behavior 30

Interventions 2.4.3 Feedback 30 2.4.4 Feedback and Habit Formation 31 2.4.5 Criteria For Effective Feedback 32

2.5 Summary 33

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

3.1 introduction 34

3.2 Hardware and System Design 34

3.2.1 The Monitoring 35 3.2.2 The Communication 35 3.2.3 The Master Module 35

3.3 The Metering PartofGSM PRO 36

3.3.1 Sensor Calculation of Sensed Current and 37 Voltage

3.4 Design of GSM-PRO Sensor 40

3.4.1 Pulse generation mechanism 41. 3.4.2 Transmitter Module 42

ix

X

3.4.3 Receiver Module 43 3.5 Components and parts description 44

3.5.1 Voltage regulator module 44 3.5.2 RS-232 Serial connections 46 3.5.3 Short Message Services 49 3.5.4 GSM Modem 49 3.5.5 GSM Modem and AT command set 50

3.6 The experimental flow 51 3.6.1 Transmitter Module 52 3.6.2 Receiver module 53

3.7 Summary 54

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.1 Introduction 56

4.2 Data acquisition and transmission 56

4.2.1 Accurate reading of meter sensor 58 4.2.2 The efficient communication medium 58 4.2.3 Application programming interface for high 58

level messaging

4.3 Feedback mechanism 59

4.3.1 The Server Design and GUT 60 4.3.2 Variable time Pricing and its real time 61

implementation 4.3.3 Defined Packages sample 65

4.4 Low power consumption meter design 68

4.4.1 Power consumption by Analogue power 68 meter

4.4.2 Power consumption by digital power meter 69 4.4.3 Power consumption by Smart power meter 70

4.5 Economical Effectiveness of the Proposed System 71

4.6 Feedback Instrument Design Overview 74

4.6.1 Consumer's feedback and opinion 74 4.6.2 Customer education and smart meters 74 4.6.3 Survey research data 75

4.7 Summary 80

A

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Introduction 81

5.2 Conclusion 81

5.3 Barriers of the research work 82

5.4 Research contribution 83

5.3 Recommendation 83

REFERENCES 84

APPENDICES 90

ANNEXES 99

ACADEMICS ACHIEVEMENTS 102

LIST OF TABLES

Table No. Title Page

2.1 Global sector review 2009 for smart metering 20 3.1 Current sensor specification 37

3.2 RS232 pin layout 46

3.3 AT commands set 51 4.1 A precise monitored user consumption information 64 4.2 Showing the hourly calculated prices for the users. 66 4.3 A comparison between different types of meters consumption 71

XI

x I I

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure No. Title Page

1.1 A comparison between oil production and consumption 3

1.2 A forecast of Malaysia Energy demand and supply for a decade 4

1.3 Overall system peak recorded at NLDC 5

1.4 US Smart meters installations. 2007-2012 7

2.1 A general overview of a: smart meter 13

2.2 A design of smart meter flow control 14

2.3 Difference between a conventional and smart meter 16

2.4 Example of AMR Min and Max benefits 18

2.5 Market growth of smart metering in EU 20

3.1 Si85xx Unidirectional current sensor 36

3.2 General block diagram of the designed meter 40

3.3 Pulse generation mechanism 42

3.4 Block diagram of transmitter module 43

3.5 Receiver block diagram attached to the server 44

3.6 The Voltage regulator module design 44

3.7 TTL/CMOS Serial Logic Waveform 47

3.8 RS232 logic waveform 47

3.9(a, b) Pin configuration of max 232 and pin connections of max 232 to 48 the communication device

3.10 Transmitter section 52

3.11 The receiver controller section 53

3.12 The process inside the server 54

xiv

4.1 Remote part Hardware and display 57

4.2 SMS received for user enquiry 59

4.3a A view of real time accesses data of a user 60

4.4b A view of real time accesses data of a user 61

4.4 A received bill information 62

4.5 User real time information display 63

4.6 A variable package price sketch. 65

4.7 Time Vs power consumption of a single day 67

4.8 Time Vs pricing Curve 67

4.9 Current measurements for electromechanical meter 68

4.1 Oa Type of digital meters installed at user location 69

4.1 Ob Current measurements across digital meter 70

4.1.1 Percentage ratio of consumer knowledge about smart metering 77

4.12 Is smart metering beneficial for consumers? 78

4.13 How useful is the feedback method? 79

4.14 Percentage about global issues awareness 80

LIST OF SYMBOLS

Vd Actual instantaneous line voltage

A Ampere (unit of current)

I Current

Ki current proportionality constant

$ Dollars

Kd Digitization constant

Hz hertz (unit of frequency)

mA Milli-ampere

fl Ohm (Unit of resistance)

% percentage

Rms Root Mean Square

F Sampling Frequency

Sec second (Unit of time)

Summation

Tx/Rx Transmit! Receive

pF unit of capacitance

V Volts (unit of voltage)

V Voltage

xv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AM1 Advanced Metering Infrastructure

AC Alternating current

ADC Analogue to digital converter

API Application programming interface

AMR Automatic meter reading

CMOS Complementary metal—oxide—semiconductor

CT Current Transformer

DSM Demand side management

DSL Digital subscriber line

DC Direct Current

DG Distributed Generation

EU European Union

GPRS General Packet Radio Service

GSM Global system for Mobile communication

GUI Graphic user interface

IC Integrated Circuit

1SI Inter symbol interface

KWh Kilo watt hour

LED Light Emitting Diode

LCD Liquid Crystal Display

MW Mega Watt

Mtoe Million ton of oil equivalent

Maxis/DG Mobile operators in Malaysia

NAN Neighborhood Area network

PlC A type of micro controller family

PLC Power Line carrier

PPCOM PLC Power-Controlled Outlet Module

RTC Real Time Clock

RS 232 Recommended Standard232

RM Ringgit Malaysia (Currency of Malaysia)

SMS Short message service

xvi

SSGC Sichuan South Gas Compressor Co., Ltd

SMSC Short Message Service Center

SDK Software development kit

TNB Tenaga National Berhad

TTL Transistor-Transistor Logic

USART Universal Synchronous Asynchronous Receiver

Transmitter

xvii

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND

Since 19th century the monitoring of electricity is performed using

electromechanical meters or electrical meters. Even though these meter are a master art

of engineering designed a hundred of years ago measuring in kWh but still they are not

capable to measure new rates structures i.e. variable time pricing and are unable to

provide awareness to user about his consumption pattern. In traditional monitoring,

human labor i.e. a line man plays a significant role in collecting and managing field

data. However, due to the size increase of consumption areas, this conventional practice

is considered time consuming and labor intensive. Around 2500 linemen and other

supporting staff are required for this manual data collection process. This process

always has chances of human error. The current metering system in Malaysia is not

capable to measure variable time price and it is gradually replaced by digital or smart

meters.

As the Malaysia economy sector is recovered from the financial and economic re-

session, resurgence in energy demand is expected. Within the last three years, the

energy generating capacity (increases according to the energy demand) has increased

almost 20%, from 13,000 MW in the year 2000 to 15,500 MW in the year 2003. The

energy generating capacity is further expected to increase to 22,000 MW by the year

2010 (Thaddeus J, 2002). In order to meet the increasing demand, energy supply

infrastructure will be needed to develop continuously and at the same time being very

capital intensive. Consequently, this will impose tremendous pressure on the natural

resources, particularly.. for developing countries like Mala ysia. At the same time, it is

clear that the current patterns of growth cannot extend indefinitely into the future

(Abdul Rehman, 2004).

An overview of local energy statistics shows that the major contribution of

electricity generation is from thermal plants mainly depending on imported coal. This

year the price for import of coal will be near to I000M $ which is 3 times greater than

2006 that was 316M. Coal, one of the most common fuel sources for power station has

also experienced a sharp increase in price recently. The average coal price has moved

up from USD49.90 per metric ton in 2005 to USD53.50 per metric ton in 2006.

Approximately 70% to 80% of TNB's coal requirements are purchased from third

parties. This imposes a high fuel cost for TNB with the increasing use of coal. The

balance of TNB's coal requirement is sourced from its own coal mine in Kalimantan,

Indonesia (Ceic, 2006).

With a projected average economic growth rate of 7.5% per year in the 2001—

2005 periods, resource-rich Malaysia would have to cater for the 7.8% yearly increase

in final energy demand. Total primary energy supply is projected to grow at an average

of 7.2% per year in the same period (EPU, 2001a). The main sources of commercial

energy supply in 1999 amounting to 37.2 million tones oil equivalent (Mtoe) were

derived from crude oil and petroleum products (48.5%) followed by natural gas

(41.8%), coal and coke (5.2%) and hydro (4.5%). In the 1990-1999 periods, the share

of crude oil and petroleum products in the total primary energy supply declined while

that of natural gas increased indicating a successful reduction from the overall

dependence on crude oil and petroleum products (MECMM, 2000 and Ambun, 2000).

The use of electrical energy immensely increased in recent years and the

demand of this will rather increase in an accelerated fashion in coming future. From

1991 to 2003 the demand and consumption intensity of electricity in Malaysia has

increased in a regular fashion as shown in Figure]..], but the rate of increasing demand

is higher than the supply making unbalanced elasticity curve (EPU, 2001b; lEO, 2004

and UK Trade, 2003). Study of same trends from 2000 - 2010 clearly indicates a threat

that needed to be managed and to produce balance between demand and supply in

future, especially when country is strongly depending on imported resources and

3

limited resources of gas. Considerable trends are taken by government in term of

energy efficiency, green and alternative energy but yet management in term of elasticity

between demand and supply (short term management) of peak load is still an area

needed to be explored widely.

40,000

35,000

30,000

25,000

20,000 0

15,000

-.-- Oil production -*-- Oil consumption

o I lit fill till!!! I Illhllill 1111111 1111111

1970 1973 1976 1979 1982 1985 1988 1991 1994 1997 2000 2003 2006

Figure 1.1: A comparison betwèeñ oil production and consumption (lEO)

Figure 1.2 shows that the projected energy demand for Malaysia in the 2009-

2020 and estimated values for 2020 (Thaddeus, 2002 and UK Trade, 2003). It can be

seen that the energy demand in Malaysia increases rapidly as the energy demand

increase almost 20% within the last 3 years (from 1999 to 2002). The recent electricity

demand in Malaysia has crossed 18,000MW. In order to meet the increasing demand of

energy in Malaysia, a major challenge facing the power industry will be having an

effective and sustainable energy policy.

4

24,000._.50%

22,000.. 45%

20,000

18,000

12,000

10,000

- Peek demand (MW) Reserve margin (%)

Figure 1.2: A forecast of Malaysia Energy demand and supply (Ceic, 2006)

1.2 THE UNWANTED ELECTRICITY PEAK

The dramatically increase local energy statistics shows that the demand can't be

fulfilled blindly as energy resources will be one of the major issues in future worst than

as it is now for some countries including developing countries even. The available

energy resources needed to be managed on short and long term basis. The peak

electricity in afternoon is one of the common problems that add up to the existing

problems. Meanwhile the growing demand for new power plants in a situation where

generation is already depending mainly on importing coal is a serious issue to be

addressed. Generation of power plants is directly related to the peak energy demand and

a solution to this issue can result in reduction of this demand for time being at least; i.e.

delaying the urgent installation of a power station.

Referring to Figure 1.3(also refer to annex 1) it can be seen that the difference

between base load and the peak load in afternoon is 5000 MW. According to Goswami

(2009) the generation . is planned considering the peak load not the base line load. So the

utility in Malaysia should prepare a generation not only for the baseline load but should

prepare for the peak load that is 13500MW. It clearly shows that peak will be creating

demand meeting problems for new power plants.

40%

35%

30%

25%

20%

10% 2009 2I111 21111111 2'ri1 211117 211111 2019 22211'

ww capacity with Bukan (l$ capacity without Bukan (MW)

1411

11c1

0

11u CX

E D

iaonn

9010

5

FEiJIIW 04 M.00 10fJU10 12JilW 16IJIIIJJ 000 W1000

Time (ti)

Time Vs MW

Figure 1.3: Overall system peak recorded at NLDC (Refer to annex])

In residential or domestic sector, electricity demand is driven by the growing

number of households and as well as the development in household income distribution.

A study in 1.998 estimated that an average family in low cost house spends about RM

65 (about US$17) per month, while the electricity in the medium cost house is

approximately RM 110 (US$30) per month, and in a bungalow can go up to RM 350

(IJS$92) per month (Taylor, 2008 and Woodward, 1996). The electricity consumption

per household depends very much on family size, living habits, number and age of

electrical appliances and their hour of use. Wise use of electricity, as well as the use of

efficient appliances will reduce energy, hence the electricity bills. This gives a space to

researchers to design some sort of mechanism to change the user habits of electricity

consumption and manage the available resources wisely.

6

1.2.1 User Awareness is a Key to Resolve Peak Load Demand

One of the main solutions of getting out this peak problem is to provide the

awareness to user for his actual consumption in real time. The feedback of real

consumption will surely result in change of habit to use electricity, depending on

defined variable time pricing. Shifting the peak load to the areas of off load is a solution

suggested by a number of researchers (Zachariadis et al., 2007; Narayan et al., 2007;

Mark, 2007; Ziramba, 2008; Roula, 2010 and Hussain et al., 2011). This shifting is long

term process which is performed by implementing an embedded system design that

monitors user's consumption pattern, apply a variable time pricing in real time

environment and provide a feedback to user about it consumption graph. The embedded

systems design considers the systems characteristics and restrictions that are

fundamental for an efficient system function. As a result, low power design of

communication intensive real-time embedded systems must consider the environment

and application constraints to optimize the system's design, such as real-time

responsiveness and intensive execution of communication tasks. In these systems, the

response time is as important as the correctness of the outputs. A real-time system does

not have necessarily to be fast; it must simply produce correct responses within a

definite time limit. A real-time embedded system usually monitors on the environment

where the embedded system is installed, and if it does not respond in time to a request,

the result can be disastrous (Wolfing, 1999).

1.2.2 The Embedded System Design or Smart Metering Implementation

Smart meters which are actually embedded system designs with some new

features added, attracted people's attention worldwide. Various countries began

extensively the use of these metering units. as early as 2006. The authorities have strong

arguments that these meters will solve problem of peak load demand. Smart meters are

standardizing and this interoperability will enable a greater roll out to Other utilities in

the US (Khurana, 2010). This is illustrated in Figure 1.4.

7

"43% of US Households will be served by an AMI meter by 2014".

44

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Figure 1.4: US Smart meters installations. 2007-2012(Source: Gerwan).

(The numbers along y-axis are in millions)

Business case for smart meters is driven by cost and labour savings and

increased customer awareness resulting in lower energy consumption. Smart metering

which is also termed as AMT (Advanced Metering infrastructure) has following

benefits;

i. AMI eliminates the need to manually read meters and the associated labor

and travel costs; and

ii. Smart meters permit near "real time" pricing of energy and can raise

awareness of the consumer to help.

1.2.3 Smart Metering in Asian Region

The trend change for smart metering also affected the Asian region. SSGC who

is responsible for more than 80% of power networks in China announced huge

investment in term of smart grid. Smart meters will be an integral part of these change

programs. AMI which utilizes two-way communications to enable real-time monitoring

and control of energy use in residential, commercial, and industrial buildings will be an

important tool for utilities to accomplish their smart grid objectives. According to a new

8

forecast from Pike research group, China will represent more than three-quarters of the

installed base of smart meters in Asia Pacific, and the government has declared plans to

continue a large-scale meter deployment through at least 2020 (Ovel, 2011.).

Singapore is also competing in this technology, the authorities signed a deal to

shift to advance metering. ST Engineering's electronics arm, ST Electronics, on 13th

Sep, 2010 announced that its subsidiary, Telematics Wireless Ltd has been awarded a

contract worth US$21 .Sm (about S$29m) by Arad Technologies Ltd (Arad) to supply

Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) radio transceivers for Arad's DIALOG 3G AMR

solutions. The supply cooperation agreement between Arad and Telematics Wireless

takes effect immediately and extends to 2015 (Business News, 2010).

1.2.4 Malaysian Experience about Smart Metering

Malaysia being a developing country shows its interest towards adaptation of

technologies. To adopt and change with changing technologies is a healthy approach to

keep ourselves up dated. But if a careful analysis is not taken into consideration this

change may result into draw backs rather than making some solid contribution and

achievement. Malaysia in 2007 signed a deal with International metering supplier

company for installation of a number of smart meters that was expected to be a move

towards technology in metering infrastructure (AM y, 2007 and NTDW, 2007). There

are no more details available that what actually happen to this deal later. But some

reliable sources and authorities who were involved in this deal told that it didn't turn

into an affective and healthy step. It was rolled back to Electromechanical Meters as the

reliability of the newly installed metering system was the question. The communication

mode and flow was also proven to be highly technical, less user friendly and it was not

flexible to adopt any modification needed.

1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT

The Malaysian experience with smart metering has raised a lot of issues. There

are number of authorities' claim that the working of conventional electromechanical

system is satisfactory and it no needs to be replaced. The second issue arises for

9

recycling or disposal of currently existing meters if Malaysia takes an initiative to

replace the existing system with "Smart Meters". No doubt smart metering is a good

solution but it is not the end. Few questions arise after this case study;

i. Installation of Smart Meters will cost a Billions of RM investment. How if this

investment is not satisfactory as expected?

ii. The disposal of currently existing I mil lion meters (almost) is a question that can't

be answered.

iii. The most important question that is a theme of this research also is "why don't we

update our existing system and make it smart enough"? This way will surely save

more than 60% of total possible expected investment and there is no question

about reliability of the existing system. All the possible features of a smart meter

can be included to this existing system.

The questions can't be simply skipped when improvement of the existing

system can be a solution that may resolve all these questions. The issues of cost and

reliability of the system will be solved automatically and the working of current system

will remains the same.

1.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

The objectives of this research are to;

i. Design of a real time power monitoring system

ii. Develop the variable time pricing through GSM SMS protocol

iii. Develop a periodic feedback to user about his electricity consumption details

iv. Conduct a pre-survey to know user's opinion and understanding about the user

consumption pattern and proposed research design

10

1.5 HYPOTHESIS

An affective feedback and variable time pricing, comprising of penalties and

incentives to user will help in a new habit formation along with modernization of

current metering system.

1.6 SCOPE OF THE THESIS

This research is a bit different from the ordinary works done because it

comprises of both social and technical sections. It start from making a feasibility report

based upon a survey (Questionnaire), describing need of the system and public interest

towards proposed system. Then it covers design aspects of both remote and master

module. Application of embedded system in power monitoring using a cellular based

network is core of this remote module. The real time monitoring section is included for

live monitoring and pricing. The system also covers the software section and

performing the calculations based upon a pre-defined time slot. Feedback mechanism is

applied and the social implication of this system will be a change in consumption

pattern of the consumer.

1.7 THESIS ORGANIZATION

The thesis is organized as follows. Chapter 1 highlights the background,

problem statement and scope of the project. Chapter 2 is focusing on and contribution

introduction about smart meters and related work towards smart metering. it also relates

to the effect of feedback towards habit formation. Chapter 3 deals with methods and

materials used to carry out the process. Chapter 4 is mostly about the results and data

obtained through experimental process. The last chapter is the conclusions of the

research work.

CHAPTER 2

SMART METERING AND ELECTRICITY DEMAND

2.1 INTRODUCTION

In this chapter a detailed description is explained what smart meters are all

about. It also highlights working principle and parties involved in it. The details of

ongoing projects on smart meters are also a part of this chapter. The second section of

the chapter refers to a step by step change towards smart metering from traditional

meters. Lastly, the chapter highlights the effect of feedback provided to user about its

consumption pattern.

2.2 WHAT SMART METERING IS ALL ABOUT?

2.2.1 World is Turning to Smart Metering

Smart metering is without any doubt a topic that recently has attracted much

attention. Many countries around the globe are already involved in projects with smart

metering on a demonstration scale or larger. A variety of benefits are generally

attributed to smart meters and these will be discussed in detail in this chapter. Many

questions arise, even if we focus on smart metering for electricity use only that what are

the exact functions of smart meters and what are the benefits? As the smart metering is

a newly introduced term in last two decades, so what is the state of art of these smart

meters now?