How smart meters help save electricity thanks to IoT

How much electricity, gas and water do I actually use? How high are my heating costs at the moment? And how can I reduce them? Or how can I, as a grid operator, react more flexibly to supply and demand for electricity, for example, in view of the irregular feed-in of renewable energies and the increasing number of new consumers such as electric cars? Questions like these are currently on the minds of many people - private consumers and energy providers alike. Smart meters could help to provide precise answers to these questions. However, the roll-out in Germany has been slow so far.

Smart devices could help to achieve the desired energy transition more quickly. Digitalisation and integration into the Internet of Things (IoT) are turning energy meters into smart metering systems (see info box). Smart metering can help to efficiently integrate energy from sunlight, wind power or combined heat and power plants into the electricity portfolio and optimise grid utilisation. This relieves the burden on power plants and opens up new business areas such as dynamic electricity tariffs. Energy operators can always offer electricity at particularly favourable prices when a lot of wind or solar energy is being fed into the grid. In this way, the intelligent systems turn the electricity grid into a smart grid.

Rising emissions, dwindling domestic energy resources and rapidly rising energy prices have recently led to a significant increase in consumer interest in such digital metering systems. However, flexible electricity tariffs and the integration of smart meters into a smart home are prerequisites - and this is not expected in the short term.

Rising emissions, dwindling domestic energy resources and rapidly rising energy prices have recently led to a significant increase in consumer interest in such digital metering systems. However, flexible electricity tariffs and the integration of smart meters into a smart home are prerequisites - and this is not expected in the short term.

The option of remote reading also means that costly, time-consuming and CO2-intensive service trips for on-site readings are no longer necessary. Tenants no longer have to wait hours for the technician. Companies are also using smart electricity meters to improve their electricity consumption, optimise their energy management and reduce energy costs with IoT technology.

However, the electricity meters are usually installed in the basement, without an internet connection nearby. Interference-free networking to smartphones, tablets or computers is therefore often not possible. IoT solutions help customers to receive and analyse this information. The mobile communications standard NarrowBand IoT (NB-IoT) makes it possible to read meter readings remotely thanks to its extremely high building penetration. The standardised LTE-based technology is also very secure.