The Energy Services Directive (EU directive on energy end-use efficiency and energy services 2006/32/EC) and the EU directive concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity (2009/72/EC) require the implementation of "intelligent metering systems". Such systems must be in place for 80% of electricity consumers by the end of 2020. The number of electricity meters potentially required to be replaced during the coming years makes this standardization work urgent. In order to address these challenges, the European Commission and EFTA addressed Mandate M/441 to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI.
In response to European Commission Mandate M/441 in the field of measuring instruments for the development of an open architecture for utility meters involving communication protocols enabling interoperability (smart metering), the European Standards Organisations (ESOs), CEN, CENELEC and ETSI, established together with the relevant stakeholders the Smart Meters Coordination Group (SM-CG) in 2009. This group is a joint advisory body that provides a focal point concerning smart metering standardization issues.
The standardization work of the SM-CG focuses on meeting the needs of the residential (household) and small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sectors. This corresponds to the focus of Mandate M/441 and the need to improve consumers’ awareness of their energy and water usage ("consumption").
The first phase of the mandate requests the ESOs to produce a European standard for communications. In this context, the Smart Meters Coordination Group developed a Technical Report, CEN-CLC-ETSI TR 50572:2011 'Functional reference architecture for communications in smart metering systems', which identifies the functional entities and interfaces that the communications standards should address. It is intended to support the development of software and hardware architecture and related standards.
The second phase of Mandate M/441 focuses on the development of European Standards containing harmonised solutions for additional functionalities within interoperable frameworks.
Further information can be found on the CEN website and also on the CENELEC website.