Consumer's Safety Concerns When Using Smart Meters Dissertation

Consumer's Safety Concerns When Using Smart Meters - Dissertation Example We will be exploring the advantages and benefits of Smart Meters and the widespread acceptance of them by various governments and power corporations / power distribution agencies across the globe. Data will be presented from numerous studies on the Smart Meter and its effectiveness will be showcased. The prime concerns of â€Å"Consumer health† due to RF waves emitted and â€Å"Compromise of Consumer Privacy† and â€Å"Safety Concern† due to the detailed statistical and itemized electricity usage will also be discussed in detail. Ways and means of countering these severe drawbacks will also be discussed and a practical solution will be proposed. A new idea on making Smart Meters more consumers friendly and robust in terms of protecting consumer privacy will be discussed as well. Acknowledgement I heartedly acknowledge and thank my supervisor Dr. Georgios Theodorakopoulos for his valuable guidance and console. I also appreciate the co-operation of my family member s for facilitating my research study. Table of Contents I.Introduction 8 1.1Project Rationale 9 1.2Purpose of Study 10 1.3Objectives of Study 11 II.Literature Review 11 II.1Introduction 11 II.2What are Smart Meters 12 II.3Working of Smart Meters 13 II.4Functionalities of a Smart Meter 15 II.5Smart Meters vs. Conventional Meters 15 II.6Benefits of Smart Meters 16 II.6.1Benefits to Consumers 17 II.6.2Benefits to Utilities 17 II.6.3Environmental Benefits 18 II.6.4Economic Benefits 18 II.7Safety Issues of Smart Meters 19 III.Research Methodology 19 III.1Introduction 19 III.2Research Strategy 20 III.3Ethics 20 III.4Limitations 21 III.5Conclusion 21 IV.Findings and Analysis 21 IV.1Introduction 21 IV.2Findings 22 IV.2.1Issue of Consumer Health 22 IV.2.2Issue of Consumer Privacy 27 IV.2.3Discussion 29 IV.2.4Conclusion 32 IV.3Remedial Models for Safety Concerns of Smart Meters 32 IV.3.1Healthcare Models 32 IV.3.2Privacy Models 34 IV.4Analysis 37 IV.5Conclusion 41 V.Conclusion and Recommendat ion 41 V.1Introduction 41 V.2Conclusion 42 V.3Recommendations 43 VI.Personal Reflection 45 VII.Bibliography 47 I. Introduction Smart meters have been the focus of attention of a considerable number of electricity providers in European Union as well as United Kingdom. A number of smart meter projects are underway in Italy, Japan, Sweden, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, USA and Northern Ireland (Gerwen, 2006). This unwavering attention given to these smart meters is because of the benefits that the ‘smart’ technology offers. Not only are these new smart grid/meters designed to be more reliable and more efficient but they also give more accurate readings than the existing electrical meters. Smart meters facilitate the operations of meter companies, grid operators, energy suppliers, governments and the consumers (Gerwen, 2006). Despite the large scale advantages offered by the smart meters, there are primarily two issues regarding the effect of these smart meters on the consumer welfare. These two issues alone have created a wave of concern amongst the consumers regarding the usage of smart meters. Owing to some of the reviews published by the environmental and health bodies, the use of smart meters can produce harmful health effect and disrupt the privacy of consumers (Murrill et al., 2012; Dean