Meter data analytics

Meter Data Analytics refers to the analysis of data emitted by electric smart meters that record consumption of electric energy. Replacement of traditional scalar meters with smart meters is a growing trend primarily in North America and Europe. These smart meters send usage data to the central head end systems as often as every minute from each meter whether installed at a residential or a commercial or an industrial service point.
Analyzing this voluminous data is as important as collecting the data itself. Some of the major reasons for analyzing the data are 1) to make efficient energy buying decisions based on the usage patterns, 2) energy theft detection, 3) comparing and correcting metering service provider performance, 4) detecting and reducing unbilled energy and 5) targeting customers for specific energy efficiency programs.
The usage of the smart meter analysis is twofold, one is that the utility companies can make their businesses more efficient and the other is energy consumers can save money by understanding their detailed usage patterns and thus consuming less energy during peak times. So, it is both economical and green. Smart meter infrastructure is fairly new to Utilities industry. As utility companies collect more and more data over the years, they may uncover further usage to this detailed smart meter activities. Similar analysis can be applied to water and gas as well apart from electric usage.

Major Players in the Market are

1) Oracle Utilities Meter Data Analytics This product provides an efficient mechanism to extract voluminous smart meter data out of Oracle's Meter Data Management system in order to analyze the data without affecting the transactional system. It also provides comprehensive list of high level and detailed dashboards for Usage Patterns, Head End System Performance, Meter Installs, Theft Detection, VEE Exception Analysis, and Tamper Event Analysis.

2) eMeter Analytics Foundation Covers AMI health, outage and event analysis and load monitoring.

3) DataRaker Operates on a SaaS model to provide analytics based on utilities data.

See also