Open Meter is entering all Italian homes and today we are already over 12 million installations. This is the new smart meter from E-Distribution, the largest Italian company in the electricity distribution and metering sector, thanks to which users can take advantage – by equipping themselves with interface devices – of value-added services that will make their homes a smart home. As? Thanks to chain 2, a communication channel that allows the secure transmission to home automation devices that will soon be available on the market, of the data detected by the meter relating to electricity consumption, or energy production in the case of prosumer customers.
The new generation of smart meters OpenMeter, of E-Distribuzione is the result both of the technological evolution in the field of metering and remote management, and of that of the electricity market and represents the new frontier of energy saving: what arises from awareness of one's own consumption. The activation of the Chain 2 channel for the first market operators of post-meter services is a further step forward in this direction, as the availability of information in near real time on consumption trends makes it possible to considerably improve the energy awareness of the Customer.
The Chain 2 channel represents one of the main innovations of the Open Meter as it allows integration between home automation systems and the counter. For the Customer, enabling this channel will make a series of information available on the User Device, such as: energy consumption and production data, electricity service interruptions, exceeding of power limits, disconnection notices. It will also be able to support all possible application solutions in the field of energy efficiency, innovative home automation services and smart home. For the validation of Chain 2, Arera (with Resolution No. 222 of 6 April 2017) commissioned E-distribuzione to start a performance monitoring activity in real conditions lasting a year and a half, which ended in December 2018. The monitoring involved 135 user devices installed in 12 Italian regions by 9 asset providers in collaboration with 4 electricity retailers.
I positive results of the experimentation of Chain 2 have not been slow to find implementation today in the first contracts for enabling this channel, signed between the company and some post-meter service operators (these are service providers, aggregators, manufacturers and sellers of user devices). Market operators, subject to customer authorization, can request the activation of the Chain 2 channel by going to www.e-distribuzione.it to the "Chain 2 enabling service", which allows you to check eligibility of an electrical utility upon activation of the service and to request the association between the corresponding meter and the User Device.
