Under currently favoured plans, the communications service providers, which Utility Week understands will be up to three consortia lead by the following companies – Airwave, Arqiva, Balfour Beatty, Cable & Wireless, O2 and Vodafone – will have to supply hubs to energy suppliers that comply with a ‘companion’ technical specification that has yet to be set.
That news came in a raft of proposals set out by the department of energy and climate change (Decc) in a consultation on the second version smart metering equipment technical specifications (smets 2). Decc wants answers to 50 questions on its proposals for the technical specifications that will come into force to cover the full scale rollout, set to begin late 2014.
The department said that a combination of the ZigBee SEP/DLMS was its preferred HAN application layer standard, and proposed that equipment should comply with it. That will see the former technology used for gas and the latter for electricity. Decc said the interoperability risk created by using two technologies could be reduced by development of a companion specification. Equipment suppliers will have to comply both with that companion specification and smets.
See the consultation here.