Introduction to Consumption Sync

Traditional interval and smart meters are often configured with two channels of consumption data, one interval and the other scalar. Utilities configure their meters this way for several reasons, including:

  • Two channels provide for a redundant reading in case of a failure.
  • Two channels provide for an independent check reading to ensure the meter is working properly.
  • Customers often need both types of data for their business processes.

When capturing and storing usage for smart meters with related measuring components, one potential challenge is keeping measurements from related scalar and interval channels synchronized. Measurements for interval and scalar channels for the same device may fall out of alignment for many different reasons, such as:

  1. Some meters use different technologies for recording interval and register readings, so the physical readings can be different
  2. Readings can vary because of different measurement times
  3. Estimation processes can vary by channel and produce different results
  4. There can be a mix of actual and estimated measurements

Having two sources of consumption data can cause many problems for utilities. Unfortunately, utilities often need both the scalar and interval data to satisfy their business requirements. For example, scalar register readings may be used for billing, while the interval data is used on a customer self-service portal.

Keeping measurement data aligned between two related measuring components is achieved in several ways:

  • During the initial load of initial measurement data VEE rules estimate for missing measurements using measurement data from related measuring components when available. Please refer to About IMD Estimations for more information.
  • When measurement data is missing for one or both of the related measuring components the periodic estimation process will generate estimation initial measurement data that will estimate one measuring component then estimate the second measuring component such that the second measuring component's data can be synchronized with the first. Please refer to About Periodic Estimation for more information.
  • When new, more accurate, measurement data is received for only one of the measuring components the consumption synchronization process will be initiated to align the previously estimated data with the newly received data. Note: this process is what this section will be concentrating on.

Consumption synchronization is a process by which measurement data for related measuring component is kept synchronized by re-estimating existing measurements when measurement data for related measuring components is received.

For example, consider the following scenario:

  • A meter has both scalar and interval channels, and the scalar register channel is considered the "primary" or more reliable channel. The total consumption for each channel should match the consumption for the other channel.
  • For a particular day, the daily reading for the "secondary" (interval) channel is received before reads from the scalar register have been received. This reading contains two missing intervals, which are estimated during VEE.
  • After the interval reading has been finalized, a scalar register reading for the same day is received. The total of this reading is slightly different than the total of the interval reading due to the estimation of the missing intervals.
  • The consumption synchronization process can trigger a re-estimation of the two estimated intervals to adjust the total of the interval reading to match that of the scalar register reading.

Other examples of situations that can be resolved using the consumption synchronization process include the following:

  • Register Readings whose start/stop times do not align with interval boundaries
  • A broken meter for which estimated readings are created for several days
  • Requirements that readings from both channels match exactly even if neither contains estimated measurements

Primary Versus Secondary Measuring Components

When measuring components are related, one is considered the "primary" measuring component, and the other is considered the "secondary" measuring component. How the consumption synchronization process works for a given meter is based largely on which measuring component is considered primary and which is considered secondary.

The following are important principles regarding the primary/secondary measuring components:

  1. The primary measuring component has the more reliable data.
  2. The secondary measuring component should validate that its consumption aligns with the primary measuring component.
  3. If the secondary measuring component needs to be estimated, it should estimate using the available data from the primary measuring component.

  4. When possible, initial measurements for the primary measuring component should be processed prior to those for the secondary measuring component (Note: the D1-IMD batch process will process initial measurements in this order). In some scenarios when the secondary measuring component is read more frequently than the primary measuring component, it can be advantageous to violate this principle in favor of being able to execute smaller more frequent loads of measurement data.

  5. Periodic estimation should be performed on the primary measuring component first, and then the secondary measuring component.

Understanding Consumption Synchronization Processing

This section provides an overview of the process that supports keeping consumption for related measuring components synchronized.

Note that the process outlined below has been simplified for illustrative purposes, and does not reference every step performed in this process.

  1. An initial measurement is received (via initial load or manual) for a measuring component whose device configuration is consumption synchronization enabled.

  2. The consumption synchronization process evaluates the related "consumption reference measuring component" to identify any measurements for the time period of the initial measurement are consumption sync eligible (typically estimated).

    If eligible measurements are found a consumption synchronization activity is created. Note: the activity will not immediately process it will remain in an initial status until a background process is executed.

  3. When the consumption sync background process is executed the activity initiates the re-estimation process by creating estimation initial measurements for each measurement that must be synchronized:
    • For scalar measuring components, this initial measurement contains no measurement value.
    • For interval measuring components, this initial measurement can contain a combination of "Regular" measurements (based on existing final measurements) and measurements that require estimation (based on and corresponding to the measurements with condition codes that fell between the range defined for "consumption synchronization" in step 2).
  4. Each estimation initial measurement that was created will execute the estimation VEE group rules to recalculate the synchronization eligible measurements.