Metering equipment manufacturers Landis+Gyr, Elster and Secure today announced an agreement to work together in developing common approaches towards smart communication standards necessary for the interoperability of equipment for the UK market.
Their solutions will be based on open standards and available specifications for Smart Meter technologies and will help to accelerate the roll out of gas and electricity Smart Meters in the UK. Under this initiative, energy suppliers will be able to access a range of Smart Meters and displays that comply with the Supplier's Requirements for Smart Metering (SRSM) specifications, that can operate on today's low-cost GPRS networks and are upgradeable in the field to accommodate other communication standards as they emerge.
Recent announcements from the Department of Energy and Climate Change and Ofgem have led the companies to believe there is industry-wide benefit in coordinating technology standards to speed the adoption of Smart Meter technologies in the UK.
A roadmap for commands
The three manufacturers will work to develop and demonstrate a roadmap for interchangeable and interoperable command sets to support smart Home Area Networks (HANs) based on Zigbee's Smart Energy Profile (SEP) and Wide Area Networks (WANs) based on DLMS protocols, ultimately ensuring that any smart product from any of the three can be installed as part of any given smart system. And the three companies say they will continue to compete in all other aspects of meter production, including cost of supply, capability, reliability and durability.
UK users will benefit as a result because competition in the supply of meter systems will be accelerated as one of the fundamental barriers to the development and delivery of meter systems will have been reduced significantly. It is anticipated that this will, in turn, help to speed the adoption of Smart Meters and, at the same time, reduce the cost of the UK's roll-out.
John Stretch of Landis+Gyr, said: "The UK's model for smart energy is amongst the most advanced in the world. UK consumers will benefit significantly from accelerated adoption of open standards and a collaborative approach to mass roll-out."
