Smart grids incorporate different measurement instruments (smart meters) into the electricity networks that facilitate the control and management of the grid, in both directions, optimising the efficiency of the system and improving quality of supply.

Smart meters will allow:

• Time-based pricing (hourly discrimination), in other words, apply the cost of energy depending on the time it is consumed (whether it be during peak or valley hours).
• Telemetry and remote management, which is the ability to perform reading of meters and processing of information remotely.

Profiling services

At present, the majority of the households in our country do not have smart meters and as a result, they do not have hourly metering. However, in the electricity market all energy is settled on an hourly basis. For this reason, it is necessary to estimate the behaviour, on an hourly basis, of those consumers who do not have hourly metering. To make this estimation, the so-called “settlement profiles” are used in order to assign an average behaviour of the demand, depending on the contracted power and the voltage levels.

Since 2011, following the mandate of the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism, Red Eléctrica draws up these settlement profiles, which are used as a reference to settle in the market the energy used by consumers who still do not have hourly metering smart meters.

With the aim of improving the current profiling service and have a greater knowledge of the hourly consumption of households and an important part of small businesses and services, Red Eléctrica has launched the PERFILA project, based on a panel of consumers who have smart meters installed.