Utilities' smart meters save money, but erode privacy
Sep 6 -
> McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Andrew Maykuth The Philadelphia
> Inquirer
>
> Those new smart meters Peco Energy Co. and other utilities will
> install soon are being touted as money-savers that will give customers
> more control over their electric bills.
>
> But for the utilities, the meters' real worth lies in the
> information generated, including details that some customers might
> prefer remained secret.
>
> Already, Peco is analyzing daily readings to spot thieves who
> intermittently bypass the meters and steal power. And experts looking
> at meter data can discern the telltale signs of illicit activity, such
> as a marijuana "grow house."
>
> But the new generation of smart meters that Pennsylvania
> utilities are required to install will produce far more data,
> generating readings at least hourly. The meters could record material
> so frequently that power flows could be interpreted like DNA to reveal
> unique electrical signatures of individual appliances.
>
> Some experts imagine an Orwellian future in a carbon-constrained
> world, where consumers are cited for excessive electricity use, or
> divorce lawyers comb through meter records and ask: Who used the hot
> tub while the spouse was away?
>
> "The privacy implications are astounding," said Susan L. Lyon, a
> Seattle lawyer who specializes in data-security issues. She compared
> the smart grid's potential benefits -- and risks -- with those of the
> Internet.
>
> "The drive to retool the United States' electricity generation
> and distribution networks may inadvertently raise a monster with
> unparalleled abilities to invade residential privacy," Elias Leake
> Quinn, a research analyst at the Center for Energy and Environmental
> Security in Boulder, Colo., wrote in a recent paper on smart meters.
>
> Last month, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission opened an
> inquiry into the privacy implications. Other states are expected to
> follow.
>
> "I think smart meters do raise issues around cybersecurity and
> data security that the industry in general hasn't addressed fully
> yet,"
> said
> Bernard Bujnowski, president of Utilimetrics, a utility-technology
> association.
>
> Peco announced plans last month to spend $650 million in 10 years
> for improvements to its distribution system, including installing 1.6
> million smart meters. It applied for a $200 million federal stimulus
> grant to accelerate the plan and deploy 600,000 meters in the next
> three years.
>
> Smart meters, which Pennsylvania is requiring for all large
> electric utilities, allow for two-way wireless communication with
> customers.
> They
> will set the stage for time-of-day discount pricing to encourage off-
> peak consumption. And for customers who consent, utilities can control
> some home appliances, such as air conditioners, remotely by sending a
> signal to a smart meter.
>
> Smart meters also will allow utilities to shut customers off
> remotely; currently, a crew has to physically disconnect the meter.
> They also will improve utilities' ability to detect and manage
> outages.
>
> But because they capture so much information, the meters also can
> reveal intimate details about activity inside a customer's house:
> when they
> are home; when they sleep; when they eat.
>
> "What if insurance adjusters determined that you were coming home
> night after the night when the bars closed?" asked Quinn. "The smart
> grid will contain a library of information."
>
> He acknowledged that some of the fears were hypothetical and "off
> the
> wall": Will the diet police really want to know who opened the
> refrigerator at 3 a.m.? And that utilities are adept now at keeping
> things private.
>
> "Utilities tend to be very protective of their information,
> especially for big users where electrical usage is a trade secret,"
> Quinn said.
>
> Still, he recalled that in 2007, the day after Al Gore's
> climate-change documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, received an Oscar,
> Tennessee political activists released the purloined electric billings
> for Gore's Nashville mansion to embarrass him -- his usage was nearly
> 20 times the national average.
>
> The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, in its smart-meter
> directive in June, acknowledged public concerns about keeping data
> secure.
> The PUC also said that it did not intend to preclude third parties
> from obtaining raw meter data "with customer consent."
>
> "We wouldn't share customer data unless we had a contractual
> arrangement and a disclosure around privacy," said Charles H. White, a
> director in Peco's customer-operations department.
>
> Analysts are only beginning to exploit the flood of data produced
> by the current generation of digital meters, which utilities such as
> Peco installed in the last decade to replace manual devices that had
> to be physically read every month by a meter reader.
>
> "Utilities were putting that data on the shelf and not using it
> --
> terabytes of information," said Rick Brakken, chief executive officer
> of DataRaker Inc., a Sausalito, Calif., firm that specializes in
> analyzing energy data.
>
> Brakken said DataRaker had devised algorithms that compared meter
> readings with weather patterns and public information on properties to
> detect abnormal consumption -- too high, too low, or conspicuous
> interruptions.
>
> Officials in Peco's Revenue Protection Unit, which investigates
> meter tampering, speak highly of DataRaker's services, which they have
> employed for two years. Peco investigators verified thefts at more
> than 80 percent of the accounts flagged through DataRaker's analysis.
>
> Because bills are based on a single monthly reading, electricity
> theft often is committed by customers who systematically bypass meters
> when they mistakenly believe readings are not being taken.
>
> Brakken's software demonstrated its value a few years ago at PPL
> Electric Utilities Corp., whose meters take hourly reads, said
> Bujnowski, who headed advanced metering at the Allentown utility
> before he joined Utilimetrics.
>
> The analysts pinpointed the records of a customer in an affluent
> all-electric subdivision whose consumption shut down every Friday and
> resumed at the end of the weekend, Bujnowski said. At the house, PPL
> investigators found the meter rigged with a switch that allowed the
> customer to divert power.
>
> Theft detection is only one benefit utilities say they will
> derive from more thorough meter analysis. Some utilities are analyzing
> data to pinpoint customers whose consumption is falling inexplicably,
> a sign of a failing meter that needs replacement.
>
> Peco said it was exploring using DataRaker to identify customers
> with excessive energy use compared with their neighbors and offer them
> weatherization or low-income assistance. By targeting heavy users, the
> utility can maximize energy-conservation grants.
>
> And after a Peco meter analysis revealed winter consumption had
> grown dramatically in some North Philadelphia neighborhoods where
> customers switched to electrical heaters, the utility last year
> replaced 17 overloaded transformers in danger of failing.
>
> Brakken said he believed some benefits of smart meters were
> overhyped for the small savings they would provide.
>
> But helping utilities understand their customers, and helping
> customers better understand their usage, can reap real dividends, he
> said.
>
> "The real value of smart meters is the information."
>
> Contact staff writer Andrew Maykuth at 215-854-2947 or
> amaykuth@phillynews.com.
>
> McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Andrew Maykuth The Philadelphia
> Inquirer
>
> Those new smart meters Peco Energy Co. and other utilities will
> install soon are being touted as money-savers that will give customers
> more control over their electric bills.
>
> But for the utilities, the meters' real worth lies in the
> information generated, including details that some customers might
> prefer remained secret.
>
> Already, Peco is analyzing daily readings to spot thieves who
> intermittently bypass the meters and steal power. And experts looking
> at meter data can discern the telltale signs of illicit activity, such
> as a marijuana "grow house."
>
> But the new generation of smart meters that Pennsylvania
> utilities are required to install will produce far more data,
> generating readings at least hourly. The meters could record material
> so frequently that power flows could be interpreted like DNA to reveal
> unique electrical signatures of individual appliances.
>
> Some experts imagine an Orwellian future in a carbon-constrained
> world, where consumers are cited for excessive electricity use, or
> divorce lawyers comb through meter records and ask: Who used the hot
> tub while the spouse was away?
>
> "The privacy implications are astounding," said Susan L. Lyon, a
> Seattle lawyer who specializes in data-security issues. She compared
> the smart grid's potential benefits -- and risks -- with those of the
> Internet.
>
> "The drive to retool the United States' electricity generation
> and distribution networks may inadvertently raise a monster with
> unparalleled abilities to invade residential privacy," Elias Leake
> Quinn, a research analyst at the Center for Energy and Environmental
> Security in Boulder, Colo., wrote in a recent paper on smart meters.
>
> Last month, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission opened an
> inquiry into the privacy implications. Other states are expected to
> follow.
>
> "I think smart meters do raise issues around cybersecurity and
> data security that the industry in general hasn't addressed fully
> yet,"
> said
> Bernard Bujnowski, president of Utilimetrics, a utility-technology
> association.
>
> Peco announced plans last month to spend $650 million in 10 years
> for improvements to its distribution system, including installing 1.6
> million smart meters. It applied for a $200 million federal stimulus
> grant to accelerate the plan and deploy 600,000 meters in the next
> three years.
>
> Smart meters, which Pennsylvania is requiring for all large
> electric utilities, allow for two-way wireless communication with
> customers.
> They
> will set the stage for time-of-day discount pricing to encourage off-
> peak consumption. And for customers who consent, utilities can control
> some home appliances, such as air conditioners, remotely by sending a
> signal to a smart meter.
>
> Smart meters also will allow utilities to shut customers off
> remotely; currently, a crew has to physically disconnect the meter.
> They also will improve utilities' ability to detect and manage
> outages.
>
> But because they capture so much information, the meters also can
> reveal intimate details about activity inside a customer's house:
> when they
> are home; when they sleep; when they eat.
>
> "What if insurance adjusters determined that you were coming home
> night after the night when the bars closed?" asked Quinn. "The smart
> grid will contain a library of information."
>
> He acknowledged that some of the fears were hypothetical and "off
> the
> wall": Will the diet police really want to know who opened the
> refrigerator at 3 a.m.? And that utilities are adept now at keeping
> things private.
>
> "Utilities tend to be very protective of their information,
> especially for big users where electrical usage is a trade secret,"
> Quinn said.
>
> Still, he recalled that in 2007, the day after Al Gore's
> climate-change documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, received an Oscar,
> Tennessee political activists released the purloined electric billings
> for Gore's Nashville mansion to embarrass him -- his usage was nearly
> 20 times the national average.
>
> The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, in its smart-meter
> directive in June, acknowledged public concerns about keeping data
> secure.
> The PUC also said that it did not intend to preclude third parties
> from obtaining raw meter data "with customer consent."
>
> "We wouldn't share customer data unless we had a contractual
> arrangement and a disclosure around privacy," said Charles H. White, a
> director in Peco's customer-operations department.
>
> Analysts are only beginning to exploit the flood of data produced
> by the current generation of digital meters, which utilities such as
> Peco installed in the last decade to replace manual devices that had
> to be physically read every month by a meter reader.
>
> "Utilities were putting that data on the shelf and not using it
> --
> terabytes of information," said Rick Brakken, chief executive officer
> of DataRaker Inc., a Sausalito, Calif., firm that specializes in
> analyzing energy data.
>
> Brakken said DataRaker had devised algorithms that compared meter
> readings with weather patterns and public information on properties to
> detect abnormal consumption -- too high, too low, or conspicuous
> interruptions.
>
> Officials in Peco's Revenue Protection Unit, which investigates
> meter tampering, speak highly of DataRaker's services, which they have
> employed for two years. Peco investigators verified thefts at more
> than 80 percent of the accounts flagged through DataRaker's analysis.
>
> Because bills are based on a single monthly reading, electricity
> theft often is committed by customers who systematically bypass meters
> when they mistakenly believe readings are not being taken.
>
> Brakken's software demonstrated its value a few years ago at PPL
> Electric Utilities Corp., whose meters take hourly reads, said
> Bujnowski, who headed advanced metering at the Allentown utility
> before he joined Utilimetrics.
>
> The analysts pinpointed the records of a customer in an affluent
> all-electric subdivision whose consumption shut down every Friday and
> resumed at the end of the weekend, Bujnowski said. At the house, PPL
> investigators found the meter rigged with a switch that allowed the
> customer to divert power.
>
> Theft detection is only one benefit utilities say they will
> derive from more thorough meter analysis. Some utilities are analyzing
> data to pinpoint customers whose consumption is falling inexplicably,
> a sign of a failing meter that needs replacement.
>
> Peco said it was exploring using DataRaker to identify customers
> with excessive energy use compared with their neighbors and offer them
> weatherization or low-income assistance. By targeting heavy users, the
> utility can maximize energy-conservation grants.
>
> And after a Peco meter analysis revealed winter consumption had
> grown dramatically in some North Philadelphia neighborhoods where
> customers switched to electrical heaters, the utility last year
> replaced 17 overloaded transformers in danger of failing.
>
> Brakken said he believed some benefits of smart meters were
> overhyped for the small savings they would provide.
>
> But helping utilities understand their customers, and helping
> customers better understand their usage, can reap real dividends, he
> said.
>
> "The real value of smart meters is the information."
>
> Contact staff writer Andrew Maykuth at 215-854-2947 or
> amaykuth@phillynews.com.
>