Major users highlight smart meter terminology confusion and call for clarity

(by Karma Loveday)

Large customer representative the Major Energy Users’ Council (MEUC) has called on wholesalers, retailers and the wider water market to use functional statements rather than labels in smart water meter rollout communications.

In a new paper, the MEUC’s Smart Water Meter Rollout Strategy Group highlighted that terms such as ‘smart,’ ‘AMR’ and ‘logger’ are being defined inconsistently – both within the water sector and between the energy and water sectors.

For example, an AMR meter in energy typically provides half-hourly data through a fixed communications network. An AMR meter in water is formally defined as a meter that requires a walk-by or drive-by read, and as such returns data far less frequently than every half hour. To add to the confusion, in practice AMR in water has long been used to mean ‘logger with frequent data’ and some use the term loosely to mean ‘anything not dumb’. This could range from the formal walk/drive-by definition, to the energy sense of a meter that communicates data very frequently through a fixed network.

The MEUC recommended all parties explain in plain, functional language what they mean, rather than using shorthand labels that risk confusion and misunderstanding. At a basic level for instance, instead of talking of smart meters, explain exactly what the customer will receive: for example, hourly data, available the next day, shared through a named route, and suitable for leak detection, billing accuracy or site monitoring.