A New Privacy-Preserving Smart Grid System

Smart grid can be used to continuously measure, monitor, predict and even control electricity consumption. However, the energy consumption information may reveal the privacy of users. In this paper, we propose a new privacy-preserving smart grid system based on a k-times short dynamic group signature supporting the controllable linkability. Only the group manager can confirm the identity of the signer, so our system can protect the user's privacy. Each user can submit the consumption value up to k times in each time period, e.g. each day. The users can report the consumption value regularly and the service provider will not be subject to heavy computation burden. We show that the proposed scheme is as efficient as other smart grid system, while achieving the additional security feather of times limited authentication.