Intelligent metering point operation

The rollout of intelligent metering point operation (iMSB) has been gathering pace since the beginning of the year. At the very least, modern metering equipment must be installed as part of major renovations or new buildings.

With market availability of smart meter gateways, the law then prescribes the use of intelligent metering systems. This will automatically trigger the accounting separation of smart metering operations from traditional distribution network and meter management.

Short: A metering point operator - regardless of whether basic or competitive - must establish complete process support for smart metering as quickly as possible.

One challenge for meter operators is the very tight price caps imposed by the legislature. This forces them to invest in infrastructure and applications, even if they initially only have a few metering points. have to manage.

End-to-end process automation

Metering point operators are therefore required to establish cross-system automated process execution for efficiency reasons. At the same time, the question of refinancing IT investments must be critically evaluated.

Even large utilities generally do not bring enough smart metering points in the first step to operate successfully under the price cap economically.

To keep costs manageable, alternative licensing and operating models are therefore urgently needed for the implementation of suitable IT systems.

In order to realize such a cross-system automated process execution, it is of central importance that the energy management application of the metering point operator (MSO) communicates with the systems of other market participants (supplier, network operator, etc.) and connects gateway administration (GWA) and metering point management.

The SAP IS-U Suite on Hana, including the SAP IM4G (Intelligent Metering for German Energy Utilities) extension, provides a reliable basis for robust iMSB standard processes.

For the necessary accounting tasks, invoicing or receivables management, a delimited function core of the S/4 Finance Business Suite can be integrated.

SAP IS-U provides the IDEX GM (SAP Intercompany Data Exchange for German Metering) component for communication with external market partners (supplier, network operator, etc.).

In combination with a market communication solution (e.g. Seeburger or B2B by Practice) the processes for the legally fixed Edifact-based information exchange can be realized.

This component performs the necessary conversion work, for example, to prepare a supplier's message for a new customer for further processing in the SAP system.

Or an invoice from the S/4 Finance core - i.e. an idoc Invoic - is converted into an Edifact format by the communication platform and sent to the invoice recipient as a signed mail.

This ERP package for meter operators can also be combined with the Smart Metering Management Suite AMM from the Oldenburg-based IT service provider BTC. In this way, a complete end2end process control is created, including device-related tasks, in order to further cap cost structures in operations.

How such a process integration works can be shown by means of MSB core processes such as device generation (IM4G process 3050), new installation (IM4G process 3060) and device replacement (IM4G process 3070). The digital meter or the gateway is generated in SAP IS-U by means of an electronic delivery bill.

When the master data of the gateway is created, there is an automatic data exchange with the gateway administration component of AMM.

Likewise, the master data of the gateway is created in the GWA Manager. During the subsequent new installation, an installation order is generated via IM4G and transferred to an installer app via a mobile infrastructure.

Once the physical replacement has been carried out by the fitter, the master data in SAP IS-U is automatically updated by the feedback via the app and subsequently synchronized with the technical master data in the BTC | AMM components.

Furthermore, tariff information and evaluation profiles are transmitted to the GWA and metering point management system in order to parameterize the metering systems as required.

Bidirectional communication (synchronization of master data and exchange of billing-relevant data) between SAP IS-U and AMM takes place via the IM4G and AMI/MDUS services specified by SAP.

Billing options

The digitization of the energy transition undoubtedly means increasing complexity for meter operators. In addition, they have to deal with many short-term changes in requirements - be it due to the legal framework, the standardization and committee discussions, or simply the demand behavior of customers.

Everyone must adapt to this. With the help of the solution approach described above, it is possible to achieve the highest possible degree of automation between different IT systems, process efficiency and high economies of scale.

The inherent complexity of the market and the high cost block of an IT project lead many to consider no longer doing everything themselves, but to look for alternatives to in-house operation.

With iMSB, BTC is presenting an alternative solution that allows MSBs to get started immediately with metering point operation. The complete IT solution from BTC offers a complete process and IT landscape for intelligent metering point operation based on the software-as-a-service (SaaS) operating model.

BTC's offering provides all services from a single source, including licenses, operation, maintenance and support. Role-based access to BTC | iMSB is via an https connection using the Launchpad approach of SAP Fiori with integration of SAP Screen Personas.

The advantage of purchasing from the cloud is that the risk of a high initial investment and a lengthy project project is eliminated. You start with a basic system that can be tailored to the individual details with manageable effort.

In accordance with the laws of the SaaS concept, billing in operation is carried out transparently according to "consumption". To this end, the metering point-based pricing model closely aligns the fee calculation with the specified upper price limits for smart metering point operation.

Conclusion

Network and metering point operators must be prepared for the fact that competition in metering point operation is expressly desired by the legislator.

The market entry of competitive MSOs will inevitably require increasing information unbundling at the network operator and the basic metering point operator.

At this point, a cloud/SaaS offering helps companies get to market faster and at a lower cost than would be the case with an in-house built solution.

In principle, this helps meter operators to further develop customer relationships, for example with the housing industry, or to try out new ideas on the market with manageable financial risks or upfront expenditures.