An exciting and diverse line-up of speakers presented case studies on their smart metering projects and insights on the latest developments over the 2-days at Smart Metering Scandinavia 2009.

The conference was officially opened with an in-depth session on The Integrated Nordic End User Market. Mr Toger Lien, former CEO of Nordpool indicated that demand flexibility and demand response is the key to reach the EU’s 20-20-20 targets. In addition Mr Paananen of NordREG told that market integration will happen and smart metering will be part of the solution for achieving this.

The morning session was continued by a presentation of Mr Thor Erik Grammeltvedt of the Norwegian regulator NVE, who presented the regulatory framework and metering roadmap for Norway. Unfortunately he also announced that smart metering implementation is probably going to be delayed due to the economic crisis and standardization issues. Significant advancements in the area of smart metering standardization and harmonization have however, recently taken place within and between countries, as detailed by VTT and Gemdale Consulting Group, who presented the work that has been done by the Nordic AMR Forum.

The afternoon session focused on overcoming challenges following large-scale meter rollout, and what has been learnt from large-scale rollout to date. Practical deployment experiences were presented by Sofia Tekniska Verken Linköping, E.ON; Göteborg Energi, Hilbrand Does and Oxxio. Besides real life experiences, important "toolbox" input was given on sourcing strategy, business process management, system integration and privacy and data security issues. These presentations illustrated that it is not just about smart metering rollout, but that organizational issues should also be prominently considered. Smart metering implementation affects the organization and utilities should be aware of this.

The second day of the conference revealed evidence and examples of the extensive opportunities that await those who develop smart metering-based demand response and smart grid offerings. VaasaETT, and ECN for instance presented state of the art pilot project results from Europe, Australia and the USA showing an enormous potential to manage consumption through the use of psychology, feedback, pricing and home automation schemes. The need to learn from best practice around the world and avoid re-inventing the wheel was also clear.

NVE-SEAS provided an impressive case study, illustrating how it is possible to segment your customer base in order to develop popular, targeted added value offerings and marketing based on the smart meter. These offerings included a unique lottery based on the read-out numbers on the meter, and a variety of customer information services. BKK, a utility from Norway went on to show how interesting future customer offerings can be identified, even from within the utility. It was also apparent from these presentations that the industry should focus more on added value services, rather than added value products. But also highlighted, for instance by Dong Energy, was the fact that smart metering and services that go beyond the meter remain all too often insufficiently mandated, and require more state commitment and support.

Maher Chebbo (EU SmartGrid Platform) and Energinet provided a vision to the huge scope of possibilities and initiatives surrounding the smart grid. In most cases the smart meter is seen as central to such developments, but as illustrated by the presentation of Tampere University for instance, future home automation solutions may ignore the smart meter, especially if the roll-out of smart meters and related offerings continue at such a slow pace. Companies such as Nokia and their partners are already about to introduce products and services that could largely bypass the energy industry.

It was also pointed out, by presentations by for instance Capgemini and Taylor Made / Hafslund, that substantial process and organizational developments are also required in order to maximize the benefits from smart meter roll-out. Not only should telecommunications be more ambitious than often it is, but also processes should be re-engineered with the solutions most appropriate to each process rather than through a key in hand approach. It was pointed out however, that technology is a means to an end in all of this, and should not be seen, for instance, as a sole guarantee of lower cost-to-serve. Metor furthermore supported the case for online technology platforms as a provider of greater process efficiency and added value.