Smart Meter Data Privacy: A Survey

Automated and smart meters are devices that are able to monitor the energy consumption of electricity consumers in near real-time. They are considered key technological enablers of the smart grid, as the real-time consumption data that they can collect could enable new sophisticated billing schemes, could facilitate more efficient power distribution system operation and could give rise to a variety of value-added services. At the same time, the energy consumption data that the meters collect are sensitive consumer information; thus, privacy is a key concern and is a major inhibitor of real-time data collection in practice. In this paper, we review the different uses of metering data in the smart grid and the related privacy legislation. We then provide a structured overview, shortcomings, recommendations, and research directions of security solutions that are needed for privacy-preserving meter data delivery and management. We finally survey recent work on privacy-preserving technologies for meter data collection for the three application areas: 1) billing; 2) operations; and 3) value-added services including demand response.

I. Introduction

The term smart grid is used broadly to refer to the next generation of electrical energy transmission and distribution infrastructures, which will be characterised by a tight integration with Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The integration of the power grid with ICT will enable pervasive real-time monitoring of the physical processes, including generation and consumption at the customers’ premises, as well as real-time control operations, including controlling the behaviour of smart appliances for demand response. Due to the large number of end-points in distribution systems, real-time monitoring and control in smart grids will require large amounts of data to be managed, which together with the sensitivity of the data gives rise to new data management challenges, including cybersecurity and consumer privacy [2].