EP2485198A1

EP2485198A1 - Control of energy delivery

Info

Publication number: EP2485198A1
Application number: EP11153158A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Jean-Paul Piques; Yve Ceustermans
Original assignee: Itron GmbH
Current assignee: Itron GmbH
Priority date: 2011-02-03
Filing date: 2011-02-03
Publication date: 2012-08-08

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for controlling energy delivery from a utility within a system comprising at least a meter at a consumer's house, said meter being adapted to authorize energy delivery, said method being characterized in that it comprises the successive steps of:
i) authorizing (10) automatically at the meter energy delivery to said consumer during a first predetermined time period (T₁) and measuring and storing (20) at the meter amounts of energy which have been delivered to said consumer during said first predetermined time period (T₁);
ii) generating at the end of said first predetermined time period (T₁) a payment request signal corresponding to consumed amounts of energy;
iii) checking (50) the reception of an information that payment has been performed;
iv) stopping (60, 70) automatically at the meter the delivery of energy if said information has not been received within a second predetermined time period (T₂) starting on or following step ii).

Description

The invention relates to the way a consumer can purchase and use energy delivered by a utility such as water, gas, heat or electricity utility.
Currently, utility meters can be classified in two categories, namely on the one hand, credit meters which are used by customers who pay their utility service bill once they have used the resource and, on the other hand, prepayment meters which are used by customers who pay for their utility service in advance of use.
For credit meters, the energy which is consumed is measured over a predetermined fixed period, and is then billed retrospectively to the consumer. Meter readings are made periodically, either by a meter reader or the customer, or automatically for AMR systems in which the meters send the energy consumption directly to a utility server via wired or wireless links. The meter readings are then loaded into the utilities billing system, and a bill is generated. Payment is then made either when the bill is received by the consumer, or via a direct debit arrangement. Credit meters have several drawbacks: Even with accurate reads there is a large time lag between consumption of the energy and paying for it. This is bad for the utility's cash flow, and does not allow the customer to manage his usage of energy as efficiently. In addition, in case the consumer does not pay the bill, it is necessary to go to the consumer's house to stop the energy delivery (through the action of a valve for water or gas energy, or of an interrupter for electricity).
In a different way, prepayment meters need to be supplied with an appropriate token ahead of the delivery of the service in order that a particular quantity or value of service may be delivered to the consumer. In such a system a consumer purchases a prepaid credit token typically in the form of a numeric or alphanumeric string with a credit value encoded in it for the relevant service. The token is inputted into the prepayment meter which thus obtains a credit for an appropriate quantity of energy. The prepayment meter typically terminates the supply of the service once that quantity or value of service has been delivered. This allows the customer to manage their household budget more effectively and avoid possible debt. Once the credit has been used, further credit must be purchased and added to the meter to prevent the supply valve or interrupter from being closed. To this end, tokens can be a card or key loaded with credit. The credit is subsequently transferred to the meter by insertion of the card or key in to a reader slot in the meter which is adapted for the purpose. Alternatively, tokens correspond to a code which can be input via a suitable keyboard on the meter. For the energy supplier, there is no need to send a human agent at the consumer's house to stop the energy delivery since the control of the energy delivery is performed by the meter.
The prepayment solution has however several drawbacks for both the consumer and the utility: Some people do not like to pay in advance for a service. In addition, there is a risk for the energy supplier that some consumers buy in advance a large quantity of energy. In this case there is no possibility to pass in real time any increase in cost on the consumer.
Consequently, none of the existing solutions is completely satisfactory, neither for the consumer's side, nor for the utility's side.
A first aim of the present invention is to provide a solution which is more satisfactory for each involved party.
To this aim, a first aspect of the invention is a method for controlling energy delivery from a utility within a system comprising at least a meter at a consumer's house, said meter being adapted to authorize energy delivery, said method being characterized in that it comprises the successive steps of:

i) authorizing automatically at the meter energy delivery to said consumer during a first predetermined time period and measuring and storing at the meter amounts of energy which have been delivered to said consumer during said first predetermined time period;
ii) generating at the end of said first predetermined time period a payment request signal corresponding to consumed amounts of energy;
iii) checking the reception of an information that payment has been performed;
iv) stopping automatically at the meter the delivery of energy if said information has not been received within a second predetermined time period starting on or following step ii).

According to some possible additional features:

steps i) to iii) are reiterated as long as corresponding information at step iv) is received within said second predetermined time period.
said method further comprises re authorizing automatically at the meter energy delivery upon reception, at any time after expiration of said second predetermined time period, of said information that payment has been performed.
the steps of generating the payment request signal and checking the reception of information may be performed automatically at the meter.
alternatively, if said system is an AMR system in which said meter is further adapted to exchange signals with a remote server, amounts of energy measured and stored at the meter are transmitted periodically to said remote server; the steps of generating the payment request signal and checking the reception of information are performed automatically at the remote server, and the method further comprises a step of transmitting from said remote server to said meter a stopping signal for triggering stopping step iv).

A second aspect of the invention is a system for controlling energy delivery from a utility comprising at least a meter at a consumer's house, said meter being adapted to authorize energy delivery, said system being characterized in that said meter is adapted to authorize energy delivery to said consumer during a first predetermined time period and to measure and store amounts of energy which have been delivered to said consumer during said first predetermined time period, in that said system comprises control means for generating at the end of said first predetermined period a payment request signal corresponding to consumed amounts of energy and for checking the reception of an information that payment has been performed, and in that said meter is further adapted to stop the delivery of energy if said information has not been received within a second predetermined time period.
Said meter may advantageously comprise display means for alerting the consumer that a payment is expected. In this case, display means may be used for displaying amount of money corresponding to said consumed amounts of energy and/or the remaining time period for performing the payment without interruption of the energy delivery
These and other features of the invention will now be more fully disclosed in the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a flow chart of a method according to the present invention;
Figures 2a and 2b are temporal diagrams illustrating implementation of the method;
Figure 3 schematically illustrates a synoptic view of a gas meter for implementation of the method according to a possible embodiment;
Figure 4 schematically shows an alternative embodiment of a system implementing the method according to the invention;

The invention provides a new method for controlling energy delivery from a utility within a system comprising at least a meter, e.g. a gas meter 1 (see figures 3 or 4) at a consumer's house. Meter 1 classically comprises a measurement unit 2 which performs, under the control of a microcontroller 3, measurement of energy delivered to the consumer and stores cumulated amounts of consumed energy in a local memory 4. Meter 1 is further adapted to authorize energy delivery. For instance, microcontroller 3 within the meter controls a valve 5 to authorize or not the gas flow. Such a meter is already known but is usually used as a prepayment meter for which microcontroller 3 keeps valve 5 opened as long as the amount of consumed energy does not exceed a predetermined amount for which the consumer has paid in advance.
The invention proposes to use such a meter as a credit meter instead of prepayment meter, as will now be further explained. In a first embodiment shown on figure 3, the method is integrally implemented within meter 1 while in the case illustrated in figure 4, some of the steps of the method are implemented within the meter, while some other steps can be implemented in another component of the system, typically a remote server of an AMR system to which said meter is coupled.
In both implementations, the method according to the invention, as shown in the flow chart of figure 1 comprises the following steps:
In a first step 10 according to the invention, meter 1 automatically authorizes energy delivery to the consumer during a first predetermined time period T₁. To this end, microcontroller 3 can start decrementing a time counter 6 set to a value corresponding to this first time period. Measurement unit 2 within meter 1 also measures amounts of energy delivered to said consumer during said first predetermined time period T₁, and stores the measured value in memory 4 (step 20). By way of example, first predetermined time period T₁ can be set to approximately one month.
At the end of first time period T₁, a payment request signal Rp for a payment corresponding to the consumed amounts of energy is automatically generated (Step 40), and it is checked whether an information that payment has been performed is received or not (step 50).
The reception is checked as long as a second time period T₂ starting after the expiration of the first time period T₁, set for instance at one week, has not expired yet (step 60).
If the information has not been received within said second predetermined time period T₂, meter 1 stops automatically the delivery of energy (steps 60, 70).
Otherwise, step 10 and following start again for a new first time period. Consequently, cycle comprising steps 10 to 50 is reiterated as long as information for the payment of the corresponding period is received within said second predetermined time period T₂. This situation is illustrated on the temporal diagram of figure 2a which shows three successive cycles for which an information P that payment has been performed further to the generation of the payment request Rp has been received before the expiration of the second time period T₂.
Advantageously, the reception is still checked after the expiration of second time period T₂ (step 80). Upon reception, at any time after expiration of said second predetermined time period T₂, of information that payment has been performed, meter 1 can automatically re authorize energy delivery by opening valve 5. Figure 2b shows on a temporal diagram an example where, for a first cycle, the consumer has paid (first signal P) but not in time after generation of the first request payment Rp. In this example, energy delivery has been interrupted only for a period T₃ starting at the end of period T₂ and ending on reception of information P.
For embodiment of figure 3, both steps 40 and 50 are implemented by the meter itself: To this end, control means are provided including microcontroller 3 and a user interface such as display means 7 for alerting the user, though generation of request signal R_P, that payment corresponding to the consumed energy amount is expected. Counter 6 can be used to set second predetermined time period T₂. Display means can be advantageously used for displaying the amount of money corresponding to consumed energy amounts and/or the remaining time period for performing the payment without interruption of the energy delivery.
The consumer can then carry out payment by any traditional ways (cheque, money, credit transfer).
Information that payment has been performed can be in the form of a numeric or alphanumeric string stored on a token or smart user card 8 after receipt of the payment. In this case, meter 1 is provided with a card reader 9 into which user card 8 can be inserted. Alternatively, said numeric or alphanumeric string can be entered by the user on a dedicated keyboard 11 of meter 1.
Figure 4 illustrates another embodiment particularly suitable for an AMR (Automatic Meter Reading) system. For such a system, meter 1 includes communications interface 12, typically a modem, adapted to exchange signals with a remote server 13 through a wired or wireless communications link 14. With this kind of known systems, amounts of energy measured and stored at meter 1 can be transmitted periodically on link 14 to remote server 13. Communication is bidirectional, so that control signals or data signals such as new tariffs or software update can also be transmitted from the server to meter 1. In this embodiment according to the invention, steps 40, 50 of generating the payment request signal and checking the reception of information can be performed automatically at the remote server, thus avoiding the need to provide the meter with keypad and card reader, which are shown in dotted line as optional in figure 4. In this case, the method further comprises a step of transmitting through communication link 14 a stopping signal from remote server 13 to meter 1 for triggering stopping of energy delivery (step 70 of figure 1).
In a similar way, remote server 13 is further adapted to transmit to meter 1 through link 14 an authorization signal for triggering re authorizing at the meter 1 of energy delivery, provided that an information P that payment has been performed has been received after second time period has elapsed.

Claims

A method for controlling energy delivery from a utility within a system comprising at least a meter (1) at a consumer's house, said meter being adapted to authorize energy delivery, said method being characterized in that it comprises the successive steps of:
i) authorizing (10) automatically at the meter (1) energy delivery to said consumer during a first predetermined time period (T₁) and measuring and storing (20) at the meter (1) amounts of energy which have been delivered to said consumer during said first predetermined time period (T₁);

ii) generating (30, 40) at the end of said first predetermined time period (T₁) a payment request signal (Rp) corresponding to consumed amounts of energy;

iii) checking (50) the reception of an information (P) that payment has been performed;

iv) stopping (60, 70) automatically at the meter (1) the delivery of energy if said information has not been received within a second predetermined time period (T₂) starting on or following step ii).
A method according to claim 1, characterized in that steps i) to iii) are reiterated as long as corresponding information at step iv) is received within said second predetermined time period (T₂).
A method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it further comprises re authorizing automatically at the meter (1) energy delivery upon reception, at any time after expiration of said second predetermined time period (T₂), of said information (P) that payment has been performed.
A method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the steps of generating (40) the payment request signal (Rp) and checking (50) the reception of information (P) are performed automatically at the meter (1).
A method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said system is an AMR system in which said meter (1) is further adapted to exchange signals with a remote server (13), characterized in that amounts of energy measured and stored at the meter (1) are transmitted periodically to said remote server (13), in that the steps of generating the payment request signal and checking the reception of information are performed automatically at the remote server (13), and in that said method further comprises a step of transmitting from said remote server (13) to said meter (1) a stopping signal for triggering stopping step iv).
A method according to a combination of claims 3 and 5, characterized in that it further comprises a step of transmitting from said remote server (13) to said meter (1) an authorization signal for triggering re authorizing at the meter (1) of energy delivery.
A method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said first predetermined time period (T₁) is set to approximately one month and said second predetermined period (T₂) is set to approximately one week.
A system for controlling energy delivery from a utility comprising at least a meter (1) at a consumer's house, said meter being adapted to authorize energy delivery, said system being characterized in that said meter (1) is adapted to authorize energy delivery to said consumer during a first predetermined time period (T₁) and to measure and store amounts of energy which have been delivered to said consumer during said first predetermined time period (T₁), in that said system comprises control means (3, 6-7, 11) for generating at the end of said first predetermined period (T₁) a payment request signal (Rp) corresponding to consumed amounts of energy and for checking the reception of an information (P) that payment has been performed, and in that said meter (1) is further adapted to stop the delivery of energy if said information (P) has not been received within a second predetermined time period (T₂).
A system according to claim 8, characterized in that said meter (1) is further adapted to re authorize energy delivery upon reception, at any time after expiration of said second predetermined period (T₂), of said information (P) that payment has been performed.
A system according to any one of claims 8 to 9, characterized in that said control means for generating at the end of said first predetermined period (T₁) said payment request signal (Rp) and for checking the reception of an information that payment has been performed are within said meter (1).
A system according to any one of claims 8 to 9, wherein said system is an AMR system further including a remote server (13) and wherein said meter (1) is further adapted to exchange signals with said remote server (13), characterized in that amounts of energy measured and stored at the meter are transmitted periodically to said remote server (13), in that said control means for generating at the end of said first predetermined period (T₁) said payment request signal (Rp) and for checking the reception of an information that payment has been performed are within the remote server (13), and in that said remote server (13) is further adapted to transmit to said meter ( ) a stopping signal for having said meter (1) to stop the delivery of energy if said information has not been received within a second predetermined time period (T₂).
A system according to a combination of claims 9 and 11, characterized in that said remote server (13) is further adapted to transmit to said meter (1) an authorization signal for triggering re authorizing at the meter (1) of energy delivery.
A system according to any one of claims 8 to 12, characterized in that said meter (1) further comprises display means (7) for alerting the consumer that a payment is expected.
A system according to claim 13, characterized in that said display means (7) are used for displaying amount of money corresponding to said consumed amounts of energy and/or the remaining time period for performing the payment without interruption of the energy delivery.