Smart Metering: An Evolutionary Perspective
Guidelines and lessons learnt from the Italian regulatory experience.
Aim of this paper is to draw some general advices on smart metering from a significant long-term regulatory experience in Italy. Smart metering systems provide benefits for the whole value chain of the power sector including new actors. it’s intended to provide all the regulatory authorities with insights on a conceptual evolutionary perspective for smart metering, underlying different applications and goals according to the structure and maturity of the general change trends in electricity, like privatization, liberalization and system transformation. Three typical approaches are described, and benefits are reported according to the relevant main goals: increasing efficiency in the distribution-oriented approach, fostering competition in the retail-oriented approach and promoting customer awareness and market participation in the customer-oriented approach. Countries and NRAs that are considering or assessing to substitute traditional meters with new smart metering systems can draw some important advices driven by the Italian experience, according to their specific context, the set-up of the power system and their market structure.
Highly Acknowledged Paper of the 2017 ERRA Regulatory Research Award.