A Step towards Advanced Metering for the Smart Grid: A Survey of Energy Monitors

The smart grid initiative has encouraged utility companies worldwide to rollout new and smarter versions of energy meters. Before an extensive rollout, which is both labor-intensive and incurs high capital costs, consumers need to be incentivized to reap the long-term benefits of smart grid. Off-the-shelf energy monitors can provide consumers with an insight of such potential benefits. Since energy monitors are owned by the consumer, the consumer has greater control over data which significantly reduces privacy and data confidentiality concerns. We evaluate several existing energy monitors using an online technical survey and online product literature. For consumers, the use of different off-the-shelf energy monitors can help demonstrate the potential gains of smart grid. Our survey indicates a trend towards incorporation of state-of-the-art capabilities, like appliance level monitoring through load disaggregation in energy monitors, which can encourage effective consumer participation. Multiple sensor types and ratings allow some monitors to operate in various configurations and environments.