neo technologies SA

Smart metering is a term associated with measuring energy consumption and the dematerialisation of meter interventions via high tech methods.

Smart Meter

An intelligent meter or “smart meter” is a meter using advanced technology called AMR (Automated Meter Reading) which identifies in more detail and more precisely, and potentially in real time, the energy consumption of a household or business and transmits this via telephone or powerline communication to the meter data monitor.

Smart meters can establish exact and precise bills, helping the client to identify the devices costing the most or wasting energy. They may also inform of micro power cuts or losses on the electricity network.

From the business point of view, these meters offer gains in productivity via the elimination of personnel required to read meters.

Click here to enlarge

An environmental approach

One of the objectives expected from smart metering is to offer owners or tenants in buildings high-performance and interactive multi-fluid energy monitoring tools.

By bringing real time information to end-users, this technology clearly incorporates an environmental agenda: several projects undertaken with flat tenants generated a lowering of electricity consumption by 10 to 15%. Forecasts predict the installation of over 250 million smart meters across the world by 2015.

Implemented technologies

Implementing a smart metering project calls for two advanced technologies:

• AMR (Automated Meter Reading), to communicate with smart meters for the various sectors (electricity, gas, water)
• AMM (Automated Meter Management) to monitor the meters and manage the associated data.

As initiators of the first Smart Metering pilot project in Switzerland, we play a major role in the development of this technology in our country (see Projects).

According to requirements, several types of interface allow access to the information derived from Smart Metering: a mobile screen installed in a house or a website are the most common forms currently, not to forget mobile applications.

Apart from providing access to “raw” data, it can calculate weekly or monthly averages, show consumption peaks, energy wastage by appliances on standby or economies to be made according to time slots.