Smart metering: energy-efficient and cost-cutting

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Thing Technologies offers a wide range of solutions to improve energy efficiency, reduce costs and thus make a decisive contribution to climate protection.

Legal framework

The German government has defined the energy transition as "central to a secure, environmentally friendly and economically successful future". The energy transition refers to the switch in energy supply from fossil and nuclear fuels to renewable energies and an increase in energy efficiency.

In order to successfully shape the energy transition, all components of the energy system must be restructured. This includes the expansion of the electricity grids, the development of new storage systems and the use of intelligent grids - also known as smart grids.

When the Act on the Digitization of the Energy Transition (GDEW) came into force in August 2016, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy regulated the equipment and operation of intelligent metering systems, known as smart meters, in connection with the energy transition (Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy).

What are smart meters?

Smart meters are intelligent meters that can record, store, and transmit consumption data. The term "smart meter" is mostly used in connection with digital electricity meters. However, the same applies to water, gas, and heat meters.

Modern (digital) electricity meters record consumption at short intervals or even in real time. They thus provide an interface through which the raw consumption values can be read out frequently.

The MazeMap Workplace platform provides clarity.

If you want to increase your energy efficiency, you first need to learn something about your consumption. Annual meter readings are not enough here.

The solution lies in the use of a new meter infrastructure in conjunction with an intelligent digitization platform such as MazeMap Workplace.

A new metering infrastructure begins with the replacement of electricity meters with smart meters. The conversion is regulated by the GDEW timetable and, depending on consumption, must be completed by 2032 (Federal Network Agency (2020); Section 29 (3) sentence 1 MsbG). Replacement is possible at any time before then, at the latest with the regular meter change. This is regulated in the German Measurement and Verification Act (MessEG).

Standardized meter interfaces, e.g. S0 interface or MBus, and established transmission technologies, e.g. EnOcean, enable a high degree of flexibility and manufacturer independence.

Step by step

MazeMap Workplace supports its customers with specific requirements and use cases and provides recommendations for infrastructure measures. The analysis begins with the local conditions and an inventory of the existing infrastructure. This includes building management systems, the IT network, the Internet connection, the meters for the various types of energy, and the location of the meters in the building.

The meters are installed by the metering service provider or a qualified electrical contractor. The subsequent configuration and commissioning is carried out by MazeMap Workplace or a partner company.

Once the smart meters are installed and a communication channel to the internet has been established, consumption data can be continuously transmitted to the MazeMap Workplace Cloud. This makes the reading process fully automated.

The consumption values of all meters are first collected in the MazeMap Workplace database and then visualized in the portal or app. Individually configurable dashboards provide a comprehensive overview of the meter readings. The diverse requirements and interests of users are taken into account:

• Current consumption (real-time data)

• Consumption histories

• Comparison of consumption values

• Correlation diagrams with external data, e.g. weather data