Smart metering and in-home energy feedback; enabling a low carbon life style

Backed by raising energy demands, volatile oil prices and threat of climate change, the use of automated meter management (AMM), oft en referred to as ‘smart metering’, is rapidly gaining momentum across the world. Europe is expected to become a world leading centre of this development, thanks to the European Services Directive (ESD) of the European Commission. Th is Directive requires energy suppliers to provide consumers with competitively priced, accurate individual (smart) meters with information on time-of-use and accurate billing. Large scale deployments of smart meters have already been decided in Italy, Sweden and Th e Netherlands. Serious considerations of implementing full smart metering penetration take place in countries like France, Ireland, Denmark and Finland. Oddly enough from an energy effi cient life style point of view, a residential smart metering coverage alone does not automatically mean successful consumer involvement in general and enabling a lower carbon lifestyle in particular. Th ese advantages require additional automation technologies ‘beyond the meter’, such as intuitive, aesthetic and aff ordable in-house displays and customized applications on web pages, cell phone or TV. To accelerate the development of contemporary ‘add-on’ information systems to keep pace with the deployment of smart meters, the technical and commercial in-home feedback innovations are being permanently reviewed in a worldwide selection of pioneering countries. At the eceee 2009 poster session, the latest insights regarding in-home communication to facilitate a modern energy effi cient lifestyle will be revealed and an