Evolution of smart metering systems

Intelligent buildings are difficult to imagine nowadays without smart metering devices. Smart metering provides commodity consumption information on electricity, gas and water. This information is also made available to the customers in order to help them in the reduction of energy consumption, costs and CO2 emission. Energy consumption can be adapted dynamically using smart metering devices to balance the power generation and distribution in the smart grid. Evolution of smart metering systems is reviewed in this paper. Smart metering projects completed in Europe are listed together with their aims and objectives. Security issues in smart metering systems are highlighted in the paper. Finally, some of the communication protocols and standards for smart metering devices are discussed in the paper.