JP6849210B2 - City gas sales system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a city gas sales system constructed between a city gas supplier, an intermediary, and a large number of consumers.

City gas is supplied from the city gas supplier to each consumer via a gas pipe, the gas consumption of each consumer is read by a meter reader, and the city gas supplier charges each consumer a gas charge. .. The gas pipes up to the gas meter are owned and managed by the city gas supplier, but the gas pipes beyond the gas meter are owned by each consumer.

Since meter reading by such meter readers requires labor and cost, the gas unit price differs between large contracts for factories and other large consumers and individual contracts for each household, and individual contracts that require labor for meter reading are more laborious than large contracts. The unit price of gas is high.

In recent years, a gas meter with a communication function called a smart meter has been put into practical use. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a city gas sales system that collects data on the amount of gas used by each consumer via an Internet line. However, while this system can reduce the burden on city gas suppliers, it does not have the benefit of reducing gas prices for each consumer.

Further, Patent Document 2 describes a city gas sales system similar to the above, which is constructed between a store and each consumer. However, although this system can also reduce the burden on dealers, it does not have the merit of reducing gas prices for each consumer.

JP-A-2002-140397 JP-A-2002-288279

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems and to provide a novel city gas sales system that provides economic benefits to all of the city gas supplier, the intermediate company, and the consumer. ..

The present invention, which has been made to solve the above problems, provides gas supply from a city gas supplier, an intermediary who purchases gas from the city gas supplier at a lower cost than an individual contract by a large contract, and this intermediary. It is a city gas sales system built between multiple consumers who receive it, and each consumer's gas pipe is equipped with a smart meter, and the intermediate company's server is transmitted from each smart meter. A gas usage database that stores the gas usage of each consumer, a purchase fee database that stores the pipe purchase fee generated by the middleman purchasing each consumer's gas piping, and a gas usage database that stores the gas usage fee. The gas charge calculation unit that calculates the billing amount for each consumer by collectively or dividing the pipe purchase charge stored in the purchase charge database from the gas charge calculated from the calculated gas usage, and each consumption It is characterized by having a payment management database that manages payments for each person.

As in claim 2, the gas charge calculation unit can equally divide the pipe purchase charge and deduct it from the gas charge. Alternatively, as in claim 3, the gas charge calculation unit can divide the pipe purchase charge so that the initial monthly gas charge becomes zero.

According to the present invention, the city gas supplier only needs to conclude a large contract with an intermediary, and the sales cost can be reduced as compared with the conventional state where an individual contract is concluded with each consumer. Can be done. Since the intermediary can aggregate the gas consumption of each consumer by using the smart meter and the server, the management cost can be reduced. Consumers can enjoy the effect of reducing the gas unit price by the above-mentioned large contract, in addition to deducting the amount equivalent to the pipe purchase fee generated by the middleman purchasing the gas pipe owned by the consumer from the gas fee. Since it can be done, there is a merit that it leads to a reduction in gas charges.

As described above, according to the city gas sales system of the present invention, it is possible to generate economic benefits for all of the city gas supplier, the intermediate company, and the consumer.

It is a block diagram explaining the whole system of this invention.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 is an overall view of the system of the present invention, in which 1 is a city gas supplier represented by a gas company, 2 is an intermediate company, and 3 is a consumer. Consumer 3 includes not only households but also businesses such as schools, hospitals, and factories. An existing gas pipe 4 is laid between the city gas supplier 1 and the consumer 3, and a smart meter 5 capable of measuring the amount of gas used is attached to each consumer 3. As described above, the gas pipe 4 from the city gas supplier 1 to the smart meter 5 of the consumer 3 is owned and managed by the city gas supplier 1, but conventionally, the gas pipe 6 beyond the smart meter 5 is each owned and managed. It was owned by Consumer 3.

Conventionally, an individual contract for gas use has been concluded between the city gas supplier 1 and the consumer 3, but in the system of the present invention, a large contract is made between the city gas supplier 1 and the intermediate company 2. Is signed and the gas unit price is set lower than the individual contract.

Each smart meter 5 has an individual ID number, attaches an ID number to the gas usage data, and transmits the gas usage data to the server 7 of the intermediary company 2 via a communication line 16 such as the Internet. As a result, the intermediary company 2 can collect the gas consumption of each consumer 3 without manpower as in the conventional case. This data transmission may be performed continuously, but in order to reduce the burden on the server 7 and the communication device, it may be performed at appropriate intervals, for example, once every month or every February.

The server 7 of the intermediary company 2 includes a communication unit 8 that receives data transmitted from the smart meter 5. Further, the server 7 includes a calculation unit 9 and a storage unit 10. The calculation unit 9 includes a CPU 11 and a gas charge calculation unit 12. Further, the storage unit 10 is provided with a gas usage database 13, a purchase charge database 14, a payment management database 15, and an ID number management database 17. The functions of each part will be described below.

The gas usage data for each consumer received by the communication unit 8 is input to the CPU 11, and the CPU 11 stores the data in the gas usage database 13. At this time, the name and name of the consumer can be specified by using the ID number management database 17.

The intermediary company 2 purchases the gas pipe 6 beyond the smart meter 5 individually from each consumer 3, and stores the pipe purchase charge generated thereby in the purchase charge database 14. The plumbing purchase fee may be flat, but it can also be set for each consumer. Although the middleman 2 will be burdened with the pipe purchase fee, by purchasing the gas pipe 6 ahead of the smart meter 5, it is possible to prevent the consumer 3 from switching to another middleman 2 in the future, and for a long period of time. You can get the same benefits as a contract. Since this purchase is not necessarily agreed by all consumers, the following calculation may be performed for consumers who have not obtained an agreement on the purchase, with the purchase amount set to zero.

The gas charge calculation unit 12 integrates the gas usage amount stored in the gas usage database 13 and the set gas unit price to calculate the gas charge for each consumer, and the purchase charge is calculated from the calculated gas charge. The billing amount for each consumer is calculated by subtracting the pipe purchase fee stored in the database 14 in a lump sum or in parts. For example, when the pipe purchase fee is deducted from the monthly gas charge for one year, the amount obtained by dividing the pipe purchase charge into 12 equal parts may be deducted from the monthly gas charge.

However, it is necessary to separately conclude an agreement between the middleman 2 and each consumer 3 regarding the amount of the pipe purchase fee and the method of dividing the pipe purchase fee. If the pipe purchase fee is higher than the monthly gas fee, the amount deducted in a lump sum will be negative, and the middleman 2 will have to pay the consumer 3, so it is possible to deduct it in installments rather than deducting it in a lump sum. preferable. In addition, it is not always necessary to deduct the pipe purchase charge for the time being, and the monthly gas charge can be deducted sequentially from the pipe purchase charge until the balance becomes zero, which is also a form of division. In this case, the gas charge payable by the consumer 3 will be zero for the first few months.

The calculation result by the gas charge calculation unit 12 is stored in the payment management database 15 that manages the payment for each consumer under the control of the CPU 11. The intermediary 2 collects gas charges from each consumer 3 based on the invoice output from the payment management database 15. Then, the intermediate supplier 2 remits the amount based on the large contract with the city gas supplier 1 to the city gas supplier 1. The server 7 of the intermediary company 2 does not necessarily have to be a single server, and may be configured by connecting a plurality of computers.

According to the city gas sales system of the present invention described above, it is possible to generate economic merits for any of the city gas supplier 1, the intermediate company 2, and the consumer 3 as follows.

That is, by concluding a large contract with the intermediate company 2, the city gas supplier 1 eliminates the need for meter reading and collection of money for each house, and can reduce the operating cost.

By purchasing the gas pipe 6 beyond the smart meter 5 from the consumer 3, the middleman 2 can prevent the consumer 3 from switching to another middleman 2 in the future. In particular, with the liberalization of electricity and gas contractors, the possibility that the consumer 3 will switch to another intermediary 2 will increase, so this effect is large. Further, the intermediate contractor 2 can reduce the gas unit price purchased from the city gas supplier 1 by a large contract.

The consumer 3 can reduce the gas charge paid to the intermediary 2 by selling the gas pipe 6 beyond the smart meter 5 which he has only owned so far to the intermediary 2. Further, in the future, even if a trouble occurs in the gas pipe 6, the intermediate company 2 will be responsible for management, which will lead to a reduction in the burden on the consumer 3. Furthermore, there is a possibility that the effect of reducing the gas unit price by a large contract can be enjoyed.

1 City gas supplier 2 Intermediate supplier 3 Consumer 4 Gas piping 5 Smart meter 6 Gas piping 7 Server 8 Communication unit 9 Calculation unit 10 Storage unit 11 CPU
12 Gas Rate computation unit 13 gas amount database 14 for purchasing the account database 15 payment management database 16 the communication line 17 ID number management database

Claims (3)

City gas constructed between a city gas supplier, an intermediary who purchases gas from the city gas supplier at a lower cost than individual contracts by a large contract , and multiple consumers who receive gas supply from this intermediary. It ’s a sales system,
Each consumer's gas pipe is equipped with a smart meter,
The server of the middleman
A gas usage database that stores the gas usage of each consumer sent from each smart meter,
A purchase charge database that stores the pipe purchase charges incurred by the purchase of gas pipes by each consumer by an intermediary,
Gas for which the billing amount for each consumer is calculated by subtracting the pipe purchase charge stored in the purchase charge database in a lump sum or divided from the gas charge calculated from the gas usage stored in the gas usage database. Toll calculation unit and
A city gas sales system characterized by having a payment management database that manages payments for each consumer. The city gas sales system according to claim 1, wherein the gas charge calculation unit divides the pipe purchase charge equally and deducts it from the gas charge. The city gas sales system according to claim 1, wherein the gas charge calculation unit divides the pipe purchase charge so that the initial monthly gas charge becomes zero.

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