A Smart Energy Meter Enabling Self-Demand Response of Consumers in Smart Cities of Tamil Nadu

Demand response (DR) is one of the demand side management features under the paradigm of smart grids, wherein the consumers are encouraged to participate in the utility operations through active response to electricity price signals by altering their demand patterns. One impediment in employing demand response schemes in India is the fixed electricity tariff for the domestic consumers, which most of the Indian state utilities follow. Interestingly, the Tamil Nadu State Electricity Board (TNEB) follows an incremental block rate tariff for domestic consumers, which provides an opportunity for the implementation of proposed self-DR scheme. Hence firstly, this paper presents the design and development of a low-cost single-phase smart energy meter (SEM) which incorporates a TNEB tariff structure. Secondly, the development of an indigenous meter data management system (MDMS) software is attempted for the utility using open-source software tools. Finally, the idea of self-DR is introduced and emphasized through the coordinated operation of developed SEM and MDMS.