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The aim is to demonstrate the reliability of a population at consecutive points in time, where a sample at each current point must prove that at least 100p$$ p $$% of the devices function until the next point with a probability of at least 1−ω$$ 1-\omega $$. To test the reliability of the population, we flexibilise standard lifetime models by allowing the unknown parameter(s) of the corresponding counting process to vary in time. At the same time, we assign a prior distribution that assumes the parameters to be constant within a certain interval. This flexibilisation has several advantages: it can be applied for all parametric lifetimes; its Markov property allows the efficient derivation of the number of defective devices, even for a large number of testing times; and the inference is less certain and hence more realistic and leads to less frequent acceptance of poor quality populations. On the other hand, the inference is stabilised by the informative prior. Based on the flexibilisation of the homogeneous Poisson process (HPP), we derive acceptance sampling plans to test the future reliability of a population. Applying the zero failure sampling plans on simulations of Weibull processes shows their good frequentist properties and their robustness. In the case of utility meters subject to German regulations (Mess‐ und Eichverordnung (MessEV). 2014: 2010–2073.), application of the derived sequential sampling plans when the conditions of these plans are met can lead to an extension of the verification validity period. These sampling plans protect the consumer better than those from an HPP and are still cost efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study endeavored to enhance the efficiency and utility of microcomputer meters. In the past, their role was predominantly confined to remote meter reading, entailing high construction and communication transmission costs, coupled with subsequent maintenance and operational expenditures. These factors collectively impacted the enthusiasm of various stakeholders to invest in this realm. Hence, in alignment with the smart city development initiative, the natural gas industry has pioneered the establishment of an advanced metering infrastructure with heterogeneous wireless sensor networks (HWSNs) at its core. This visionary leap incorporates global machine-to-machine connectivity (G-M2MC) technology, interconnecting all facets of its operations, thereby positioning itself as a trailblazer within the industry. While advancing this endeavor, the project's scheduling aligns with the enterprise's sustainability goals in the early stages of digital transformation. This strategic allocation of resources is responsive to government policies and aspires to cultivate a digitally connected smart green energy hub, thereby expediting the transformation of the living environment. The objective is to provide a stable, secure, cost-effective, and reliable system that can be shared among peers. Furthermore, this study delved into the analysis of congestion avoidance in intelligent Zigbee satellite transport networks based on the HWSNs-GM2MC of non-synchronous satellite orbit system (NGSO) pivotal technologies, utilizing them to integrate the smart LNGas management system (SGMS). Concurrently, it developed application services through the smart meter application interface (SMAPI), distinct from conventional microcomputer meters. However, it is imperative to acknowledge that cloud computing, while processing sensitive data, grapples with issues of latency, privacy, efficiency, power consumption, and zero-trust security risk information management and ethical authority management capabilities in the defense of disaster relief responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data aggregation is considered as the crucial aspect of the smart grid to assess the electricity consumption information which acts as a basis of management decision making for utility provider. However, smart meters are lightweight devices therefore, subject to technical crashes and deferment in forwarding their data that hinders the efficient and accurate communication of data. Consequently, the consumption data of the faulty smart meters remain uncommunicated which can affect the accuracy of the final aggregate significantly and can misguide the utility companies in the power management decisions. Therefore, considering the stated challenge, a novel AI-driven fault-tolerant aggregation model is proposed that is established on the prediction mechanism of artificial neural network. The novelty of the proposed work lies in the efficient fault-handling of unavailability of data by utilizing previous available information. Furthermore, the proposed model also provides mechanism to track the affected meters and acknowledge the utility provider. The experimental simulation and comparison results reveal the outperforming results of the proposed model from state-of-the-art works which is validated using root mean squared error and mean absolute error. Additionally, the aggregation accuracy is achieved up to 99.95% with a relative improvement of 23.92%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this study is on large flow meters, for which there is limited information due to their large size, making testing and research challenging. This research was conducted to quantify the effects of various accessories located upstream of these meters. Even a small percentage of variation in error can correspond to a significant volume of water. Accurate meters are crucial in many applications that involve large volumes of water as precise flow measurements are necessary for smooth and efficient processes while avoiding costly errors and downtime. Inaccurate large water meters can have far-reaching implications, such as overbilling or underbilling and production inefficiencies, which result in wasted resources and energy. Furthermore, inaccurate flow measurements can lead to environmental consequences as industries must comply with strict regulations regarding wastewater discharge limits. Uncertainty about the economic impact of an accessory installed upstream of a medium-sized water meter leads many water utilities to oversize the meter chambers to mitigate potential negative errors. In this study, six types of elements were tested upstream of ten brand-new water meters from six different manufacturers, constructed using four different metering technologies: single-jet, Woltmann, electromagnetic, and ultrasonic. Each meter unit was tested at five flow rates, ranging from the minimum to overload. The tests were conducted with accessories set in different orientations and distances upstream of the water meters under study. The research shows that the accessories used can cause significant deviations in measuring errors compared to the regular errors found under undisturbed working conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Technisches Messen is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The net benefits and public acceptance of a proposed reform to the current subsidization of energy in the State of Kuwait were investigated in this study. The proposed subsidization suggests that the government pays the consumers the subsidization cost in advance and in exchange for raising the subsidized tariffs to total price. The consumption will likely be reduced by a rate equal to the over-consumption due to the current subsidized tariffs relative to the income. The net benefits are expected to be maximized and shifted to a pseudo-equilibrium point where both the governments and the consumers will be better off financially. The public acceptance of the proposed strategy was examined using 274 voluntarily one-to-one interviews for gasoline and 121 for electricity and water. Also, a utility meters reading program was conducted on 90 houses out of the 121 interviews for utilities. The interviews for gasoline and utilities indicated 57% and 66% of the respondents see no equity in the current subsidization, 55%, and 80% admitted to overuse, 11% and 21% average of the consumption, and 67% and 66% of the respondents were willing to adopt the new strategy. The consumer is expected to save 912 USD/year from gasoline and 8,198 USD/year from utilities. The estimated net benefits are 5,841 million USD annually, with 62% attributed to utility benefits and 38% to gasoline benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Federal and state decarbonization goals have led to numerous financial incentives and policies designed to increase access and adoption of renewable energy systems. In combination with the declining cost of both solar photovoltaic and battery energy storage systems and rising electric utility rates, residential renewable adoption has become more favorable than ever. However, not all states provide the same opportunity for cost recovery, and the complicated and changing policy and utility landscape can make it difficult for households to make an informed decision on whether to install a renewable system. This paper is intended to provide a guide to households considering renewable adoption by discussing relevant factors that influence renewable system performance and payback, summarized in a state lookup table for quick reference. Five states are chosen as case studies to perform economic optimizations based on net metering policy, utility rate structure, and average electric utility price; these states are selected to be representative of the possible combinations of factors to aid in the decision-making process for customers in all states. The results of this analysis highlight the dual importance of both state support for renewables and price signals, as the benefits of residential renewable systems are best realized in states with net metering policies and above-average electric utility rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Elektronik Industrie is the property of Hüthig GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Smart grid has been acknowledged as the next-generation intelligent network that optimizes energy efficiency. Primarily through a bidirectional communication channel, suppliers and users can dynamically adjust power transmission in real time. Nonetheless, many security issues occur with the widespread deployment of smart grid, e.g., centralized register authority and potential Distributed-Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack. These existing problems threaten the availability of smart grid. In this paper, we mainly focus on solving some identity authentication issues remained in the smart grid. Combined with blockchain, Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC), dynamic Join-and-Exit mechanism and batch verification, a reliable and efficient authentication protocol is proposed for smart meters and utility centers. Simultaneously, the provable security of this protocol is assured by the computational hard problem assumptions. Experiment results show that our protocol has achieved security and performance improvement compared with the other ECC related schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Actual operational data from nine commercial-scale solar PV systems in Virginia over single- to multi-year periods are used. • Facilities analyzed encompass four different end-use categories with summer- and daytime-peaking (SDP) electricity demand. • Granular performance analyses demonstrate a consistent potential to reduce peak demand for individual SDP customers and coincident peak demand for regional grids. • Properly sized systems (large enough but not oversized) can maximize financial savings for commercial solar customers. • With proper scale and policy support, solar PV can provide financial savings to solar customers, utilities, and utility ratepayers alike. The conventional approach to developing commercial behind-the-meter solar discounts peak demand savings and focuses on maximizing the number of installed panels with little consideration for optimizing economic benefits to solar customers, much less for utility ratepayers. While a select number of studies similarly point to the peak demand reduction benefits of distributed solar, they typically rely on simulations and theoretical models to support their conclusions. In contrast, this study draws on a wealth of empirical data from a commercial solar development company, demonstrating consistent peak demand savings for various solar customers as well as grid-scale benefits to utilities and their ratepayers. Using 5- to 30-minute interval data from solar arrays and utility meters, we analyze the impact of solar PV on operational energy demand for nine commercial facilities in Virginia, USA. All facilities analyzed exhibited a mid-day- and summer-peaking demand profile, making them ideal for solar integration. Through analyzing both sets of interval data, we find that solar reduced monthly peak demand by an average of 22.9%, consistently shifted peak load towards off-peak hours, and reduced demand during coincident peak periods for utilities in PJM, the mid-Atlantic regional transmission organization, by an average of 42.3%. In addition to demonstrating substantial peak demand reduction, these findings emphasize the importance of systematically optimizing system capacity according to facility-level energy consumption and utility rate tariffs. This paper debunks conventional dogma that distributed solar burdens non-participants with cross-subsidization, rather highlighting the need for policies which promote distributed solar access and more equitable energy grids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conformity assessment of utility meters is the process by which compliance of measuring instruments with essential requirements is determined. The uncertainties associated with accuracy measurements during testing shall be evaluated and accounted for when making decisions about conformity with the specifications. This paper describes evaluation methods of measurement results in utility meters testing applicable for conformity assessment and for testing laboratories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current vision of internet of things aims at connecting anything with everything. It is estimated that there will be 18 billion connected devices in 2022. Applications like utility meters, robotics, smart street lighting, process automation, solar and wind farms are expected to grow. High end requirements for automated driving, industrial automation and e-health exist. Cellular IOT is expected to bring new use cases to address latest requirements in the market. There is a need to provide large coverage in a power efficient manner while providing a high battery life. There is a need to have a kit which connects seamlessly and has a small form factor. The requirements on latency and throughput are relaxed in some cases while stringent in others. Stringent requirements make use of more radio resources. There is increased demand for system capacity and network availability. In this paper we make use of nRF9160 kit a low-cost device where a reduction in the cost and complexity has been achieved. The performance objectives of coverage, throughput, latency, capacity, power efficiency and complexity are met. This kit provides a reliable and future proof solution in the long term. The kit is built for the global market and allows roaming over multiple networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The future demands for Smart Meters (SM) applications impose maximizing resources utilization. In this paper, we achieve two main objectives to comply with fifth-generation networks goals and serving the SM applications. First one is to enhance the Narrowband-Internet-of-Things spectral efficiency. The second is to alleviate the signalling burden during each transmission request for SMs. First, we model the uplink scheduler for the NB-IoT access network using the state-machine modelling methodology on the Simulink environment. The simulation results are verified and validated with trusted modelling technique. Second, we optimize the NB-IoT uplink scheduler, which exploits the periodicity nature of SMs applications. We achieve that by proposing an integrated scheduling protocol which rearranges the transmission times of different smart meters utilities, and it draws a map for the transmission schedule of them to better utilize the sparse time resources. The proposed approach comprises architecture, signalling, and algorithms. We evaluate the optimization in term of numbers of SMs versus four performance indicators; resources utilization, spectral efficiency, setup success percentage, and session drop rate according to a case study. The simulation results prove the ability of our proposal to increase the spectrum utilization to 17.47%. This enhancement reflects on spectral efficiency that improved doubled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the close-enough traveling salesman problem, a variant of the Euclidean traveling salesman problem, in which the traveler visits a node if it passes through the neighborhood set of that node. We apply an effective strategy to discretize the neighborhoods of the nodes and the carousel greedy algorithm to appropriately select the neighborhoods that, step by step, are added to the partial solution until a feasible solution is generated. Our heuristic, based on these ingredients, is able to compute tight upper and lower bounds on the optimal solution relatively quickly. The computational results, carried out on benchmark instances, show that our heuristic often finds the optimal solution, on the instances where it is known, and in general, the upper bounds are more accurate than those from other algorithms available in the literature. Summary of Contribution: In this paper, we focus on the close-enough traveling salesman problem. This is a problem that has attracted research attention over the last 10 years; it has numerous real-world applications. For instance, consider the task of meter reading for utility companies. Homes and businesses have meters that measure the usage of gas, water, and electricity. Each meter transmits signals that can be read by a meter reader vehicle via radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology if the distance between the meter and the reader is less than r units. Each meter plays the role of a target point and the neighborhood is a disc of radius r centered at each target point. Now, suppose the meter reader vehicle is a drone and the goal is to visit each disc while minimizing the amount of energy expended by the drone. To solve this problem, we develop a metaheuristic approach, called (lb/ub)Alg, which computes both upper and lower bounds on the optimal solution value. This metaheuristic uses an innovative discretization scheme and the Carousel Greedy algorithm to obtain high-quality solutions. On benchmark instances where the optimal solution is known, (lb/ub)Alg obtains this solution 83% of the time. Over the remaining 17% of these instances, the deviation from the optimality is 0.05%, on average. On the instances with the highest overlap ratio, (lb/ub)Alg does especially well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the degradation rates of water meters assists utilities in making informed management decisions regarding meter replacement programmes and meter technology selection. This research evaluated the performance of 200 residential meters of two different technologies commonly used in Gauteng, South Africa, namely velocity meters and volumetric meters. This was done by conducting empirical meter testing in a verification laboratory and evaluating the degradation accuracy of each meter technology based on age and volume. Results indicate that velocity meters experience an accuracy degradation rate of approximately -1.13% per 1 000 kL of volume passed through the meter and an inferred initial error of -10.80%. Meter accuracy was not strongly related to age of the velocity meters tested. Volumetric meters did not exhibit a strong link with either age or accumulated volume, indicated by a loose grouping of results. These results indicate that accumulated volume of a velocity meter is a more reliable predictor of accuracy than age, and should be used when planning replacement strategies for velocity meters. Additionally, the lack of predictable degradation rates related to either age or accumulated volume for volumetric meters indicates that the accuracy of volumetric meters is primarily affected by other external factors, such as particulates or entrained air in the water network. These findings will assist utility managers in predicting the accuracy of their meter fleet and in making informed decisions regarding meter replacement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is devoted to the effective way of getting images from the information board of the counting register for utility metering. This method is based on the use of the open source library OpenCV. The image processing algorithm has been represented. The method of calibration of the video camera allows us to reduceerror probability in text recognition. Here are some results of the experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communication systems play an important role in smart grid (SG). Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) is hybrid architecture in smart grid comprising of smart meters and gateways. With AMI network, consumers can achieve demand side management, real time pricing, load scheduling, and upgrading of software updates through gateways to a number of smart meters without the need to visit every place. Information exchange can occur in the form of meter readings from meters to utility, from meters to AMI and from AMI to utility. Broadcasting is one possible solution in these scenarios for information exchange and cognitive radio networks (CRNs) are one possible solution for communication that provides large data transmission utilizing available spectrum resources from licensed and unlicensed bands. Broadcasting is challenging in CRNs due to licensed/primary user (PU) activity, availability of multiple channels, and channel diversity. Therefore, PU protection must be provided at all cost and data transmission should be quick and reliable for a smooth operation. In this paper, we propose two novel reliable schemes, i.e., probability-based broadcasting scheme for CR-based smart grid and area-based broadcasting scheme for CR-based smart grid specifically designed for AMI networks. Our schemes provide reliable data to smart meters with sufficient PU protection. We have compared our schemes with two flooding techniques, i.e., key policy attribute based encryption (Fadlullah et al. in IEEE Commun Mag 50:150–156, 2012) and key management scheme (Liu et al. in IEEE Trans Ind Electron 60(10):4746–4756, 2013). Simulation in NS-2 validates our schemes as a viable solution in cognitive radio-based smart grid systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key Takeaways: Through sound meter‐testing methods, water utilities can better determine a meter's accuracy in measuring flow. In the interest of providing guidance to water utilities, a recent study was conducted to observe the ability of 12 utilities to accurately test meters, especially at low flow rates. A 2013 study was used as a model to continue investigation into how utilities test meters and how their procedures can improve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an ac energy measurement frontend on 0.18 $\mu $ CMOS with integrated, condition-based monitoring capability that can continuously monitor and report on the accuracy of the full measurement system, including the external current and voltage sensors, without interruption of the measurement used for billing. This is achieved using a highly stable, digitally controlled, adaptive background accuracy monitoring (ABAM) system, which injects a small, known signal into the sensors and extracts it using digital signal processing, in the background while normal measurement is ongoing. The realized system is an energy metering frontend that can be used for utility metering applications capable of measuring rms current to 0.1% accuracy over a 1000:1 dynamic range and active energy to 0.25% accuracy over a 5000:1 dynamic range over the full supply and temperature range, while continuously monitoring the system accuracy in the background. The ABAM signal references and drivers used for monitoring the current and voltage channels independently achieve an absolute accuracy in the order of 0.1%, and the full ABAM system has been shown to track the relative accuracy of the full meter when subjected to interference and when trialed in the field to 0.1%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's 11th Five-Year Plan introduced various policy instruments to address carbon mitigation; however, the ex-post-policy impacts need to be investigated in a scientific and systematic way to guide future policy design. In this paper, we estimate the impacts of the heat metering and energy efficiency retrofitting policy (HMEER) on residential energy consumption in Chinese provinces using a difference-in-differences approach. Our results suggest that the HMEER policy reduces energy consumption in the treated regions by 10% per year on average, with an annual reduction in CO2 of approximately 50 Mt. We conclude that the HMEER policy contributes to household energy conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The success of water and energy smart metering is highly contingent on a successful communication strategy. We report on the findings from a qualitative study involving discourse analysis of customer messaging and focus groups with utility professionals. Discourse analysis suggests that the primary framings applied are "control", "convenience and "savings". Focus groups revealed paradoxes contained in these framings as the participants associate metering with the loss of control over private data, inconvenience during the installation process, and lack of financial gains if customers' lifestyles cannot support "smart" decisions. Future communications should be tailored to the values and needs of consumers. Highlights • Promotional materials assume convenience, savings and control over utility bills thanks to metering. • Tariff re-design and transparent communication needed for fair implementation. • Potential for collaboration and mutual learning between water and energy sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a method for quality assurance of raw data from water distribution networks in near real-time. Well-known and novel data analysis methods, including a timestamp drift test, are combined to produce a malfunction indicator database for diagnosing anomalies within data acquisition practices. The method was applied to 112 flow and 111 pressure data sets, covering on average 32 months, located throughout the distribution networks of three Danish utilities. Around 10% of measurements in the utilities' meter data sets were absent and 3–35% were categorized as dubious or erroneous. The most common types of anomalies for flow and pressure data were flatline and time stamp inconsistencies. Time drifts were identified in all three utilities and a similarity analysis revealed a simultaneous occurrence of many anomalies. These high rates could have been avoided if the proposed method had been implemented to automatically highlight meter errors and system-wide problems in data collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes characterizing unauthorized water consumption and fitting multiple logistic regression models for detecting illegal connections. The research used monthly water consumption data from 42,131 single-family homes in Joinville, southern Brazil. The obtained models achieved accuracies ranging from 83% to 100% for detecting three types of fraud (unauthorized reconnection of a disconnected water service line, bypass, and direct connection). The results showed previous minor violations, tampering with water meters and stands, and non-compliance of meter installation with utility standards are related to illegal connections. • Multiple logistic regression was used for the detection of illegal water connections. • Three different methods were applied to balance the sample. • The final models correctly identified fraud in water supply systems. • Milder violations were observed to be a warning sign for illegal connections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing number of cities are adopting energy use benchmarking ordinances, which require building owners report their buildings' total energy usage annually. It also requires that utilities supply aggregated building-level monthly energy consumption data. The data aggregation poses privacy concerns, as it is possible to estimate the individual tenant load consumption curve by dividing aggregated energy data by the number of meters. A solution is to quantify and assess the impact of adjusting the utility meter aggregation threshold on tenant privacy and on buildings that are eligible for energy usage reporting. As the threshold increases, fewer buildings are eligible for energy use data disclosure and therefore lessening data value. This study aims to investigate the similarity between individual utility meters and whole-building totals at various aggregation levels. Based on statistical analysis of 715,000 anonymized, non-residential meter accounts from six utilities across the U.S., we developed the “Meter Aggregation Selection Threshold” as a metric to assess tenant privacy risk. The metric estimates the portion of individual customer energy use patterns that are similar to the aggregated building consumption profile. It allows policy makers to make an informed decision on whether required disclosure regulations compromise business sensitive information and tenant privacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Smart cities are racing to create a more connected Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) that rely on collecting data from every possible sensor such as a smart utility meter or a smart parking meter. The use of more sensors resulted in generating a lot of information that maps the smart city environment conditions to more real time data points that needed to be shared and analyzed among smart city nodes. One possibility, to carry and share the collected data, is in autonomous vehicles systems, which use the Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) technology. For example, in a Car-to-Parking-Meter or a Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communications, short-range embedded sensors such as Bluetooth, Cameras, Lidar send the collected data to the vehicle's Electronic Control Unit (ECU) or to a road side gateway for making collaborative decisions and react to the environment's surrounding conditions. The goal of this research is to develop and test a DSRC based sensor-pooling protocol for vehicles to cooperatively communicate inclement weather or environment conditions. Five simulation experiments are setup using PreScan and Simulink to validate and study the scalability of the proposed solution. PreScan is an automotive simulation platform that is used for developing and testing Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS). The research findings proved that the DSRC can be used to effectively stream the short range sensors' collected data over a long distance communications link. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To promote energy saving in the residential sector Directive 2012/27/EU has set the obligation for buildings supplied by central heating sources to install individual heat metering and accounting systems. However, in social housing, bills based exclusively on individual consumption should be unfair due to some unfavourable situations, such as first and top floors, presence of unheated common spaces, north oriented dwellings. Nevertheless, fair heat accounting rules should be introduced especially in social housing buildings, which are often thermally underperforming with inefficient heating plants and tenants are commonly low-income people and elderly. On the other hand, common regulations for heat accounting providing compensation to avoid inequalities among tenants have not been set and different approaches on this topic are present among EU Member States. In this paper the authors present a new heat accounting method for social housing based on the estimation of extra-consumptions due to building inefficiencies. According to this method, extra-consumptions are charged to all tenants in order to encourage energy efficient retrofit interventions. Finally, the new method has been experimented in a typical social housing building in Italy and compared to other methods applicable in EU, evidencing some advantages and weaknesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Several states require schools and child cares to report vaccination rates, yet little is known about the impact of these policies. Our objectives were to assess: (1) predicted impact of vaccination rates on school/child care choice, (2) differences between vaccine hesitant and non-hesitant parents, and (3) differences by child’s age. Methods In 2016, a cross-sectional email survey of Colorado mothers with children ≤12 years old assessed value of vaccination rates in the context of school/child care choice. A willingness-to-pay framework measured preference for schools/child cares with different vaccination rates using tradeoff with commute time. Results Response rate was 42% (679/1630). Twelve percent of respondents were vaccine hesitant. On a scale where 1 is “not important at all” and 4 is “very important” parents rated the importance of vaccination rates at 3.08. Respondents (including vaccine-hesitant respondents) would accept longer commutes to avoid schools/child cares with lower vaccination rates. Parents of child-care-age children were more likely to consider vaccination rates important. Conclusions This study shows parents highly value vaccination rates in the context of school and child care choice. Both hesitant and non-hesitant parents are willing to accept longer commute times to protect their children from vaccine-preventable diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advanced metering technologies coupled with informatics creates an opportunity to form digital multi-utility service providers. These providers will be able to concurrently collect a customers’ medium-high resolution water, electricity and gas demand data and provide user-friendly platforms to feed this information back to customers and supply/distribution utility organisations. Providers that can install low-cost integrative systems will reap the benefits of derived operational synergies and access to mass markets not bounded by historical city, state or country limits. This paper provides a vision of the required transformative process and features of an integrated multi-utility service provider covering the system architecture, opportunities and benefits, impediments and strategies, and business opportunities. The heart of the paper is focused on demonstrating data modelling processes and informatics opportunities for contemporaneously collected demand data, through illustrative examples and four informative water-energy nexus case studies. Finally, the paper provides an overview of the transformative R&D priorities to realise the vision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expanding prepaid electricity meter market is globally characterised by innovation and change. In this article we track persistent and emerging trends in the prepaid electricity market for households. To do this, we review important literature noting the benefits and challenges of prepaid meters overtime. We find two forms of trends – namely the persistent and emerging trend – that currently characterise the prepaid meter related literature and market. The persistent trend in literature and the market is the proclivity to echo the savings on electricity and improved budgeting as important benefits for prepaid metered households. However, a fundamental emerging trend is also identified, wherein it is shown that the past decade there has been an intensifying interest of scholarly literature challenging the notion of prepaid meters and its effect thereof, particularly among indigent households. We therefore primarily recommend that there be a development of prepaid electricity meter regulatory mechanisms geared towards protecting vulnerable households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utility regulators and policymakers are concerned about potential increases in retail rates driven by energy efficiency (EE) programs and distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, which may adversely affect utility customers that do not invest in these technologies (i.e., non-participants) and more so than those that do (i.e., participants). We assess customer bill impacts of illustrative EE programs and net-metered PV systems for a prototypical northeast utility. We find that the timing of customer EE or PV investments matters and that modest energy savings may fail to yield financial benefits sufficient to offset concomitant increases in retail rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the state of consumer protections, flaws in Ohio law and the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio's (PUCO) jurisdiction concerning submetering. Topics discussed are utility services not covered in the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act, refusal of PUCO to exercise jurisdiction over submetering companies, the Supreme Court of Ohio's statutory interpretation of regulation of public utilities including gas companies, and the need of a state law regulating submetering companies.

This paper provides useful insights regarding the financial implications of the currently applied Net Energy Metering (NEM) practice in Cyprus through analyzing the implemented policy under: a) the customers’ perspective and b) the utility (Electricity Authority of Cyprus) perspective. These two perspectives are known in the scientific literature as the participant cost test and the utility cost test respectively. Within the paper, the financial analysis from the customers’ perspective, it embraces the impact resulting from a series of factors influencing the viability of net-metered PV systems’ investments. Furthermore, the analysis from the utility's perspective relates to the expected costs and benefits that EAC may experience due to the current NEM rules and applied charges. Finally, the key findings pertaining to the current NEM policy's hidden financial and policy implications are critically discussed. This discussion is performed to facilitate a more diligent NEM policy that will allow further penetration of roof-top PV systems through well-informed and transparent decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heterogeneous population, a mixture of weak and strong subpopulations, is inevitable in some multiple stresses accelerated tests. Modeling the reliability of heterogeneous population in an accelerated test differs dramatically from that for a homogeneous setting. In this paper, a multiple stress reliability assessment model with heterogeneous populations is proposed, which includes verifying the presence of heterogeneous population, determining the number of subpopulations and separating populations based on Bayes classifier. The acceleration model structure is then specified, and the effects of different accelerating stresses are analyzed. A practical example is used to demonstrate the accuracy and flexibility of the proposed method. It is shown that reliability assessment without considering heterogeneity is heavily biased, and the sequences of stress sensitivity to different subpopulations are different. We also explain the phenomenon that the pseudo lifetime of smart electricity meter under some milder stress is shorter than that in harsher condition due to opposite effects on degradation characteristics among different stresses, and verify the phenomenon by the enhancement test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For smart electricity meter with multiple performance characteristics (PCs) with coupling relationships because of amounts of components experiencing multiple deteriorating processes, we develop a multivariate degradation modeling method via vine copulas to estimate the reliability of products with multiple PCs reflecting degradation states. In the multivariate model, pair-copula construction and vine graphical representation are used to describe the mutual relationship among PCs to overcome the lack of multivariate copula in high-dimensional cases. Each PC model of smart electricity meter is built by using drift Brownian motion to describe degradation processes of each PC on the basis of degradation mechanism analysis, and parameters are estimated by using likelihood estimation method. The Pearson correlation coefficient, Kendall's τ and product information are used to analyze correlation among those PCs. Furthermore, on the basis of conditional probability theory, the vine graph is used to construct a multivariate copula which can be decomposed into pair copulas. Akaike information criterion principle is utilized to choose the forms of pair-copula functions in the correlation model. Finally, the reliability joint distribution of all PCs of smart electricity meter is obtained with combining all PCs' marginal distributions and copula functions. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A low-cost mini tubular microbial fuel cell (MFC) was developed for treating groundwater that contained benzene in monitoring wells. Experimental results indicate that increasing the length and density, and reducing the size of the char particles in the anode effectively reduced the internal resistance. Additionally, a thinner polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel separator and PVA with a higher molecular weight improved electricity generation. The optimal parameters for the MFC were an anode density of 1.22 g cm −3 , a coke of 150 μm, an anode length of 6 cm, a PVA of 105,600 g mol −1 , and a separator thickness of 1 cm. Results of continuous-flow experiments reveal that the increasing the sets of MFCs and connecting them in parallel markedly improved the degradation of benzene. More than 95% of benzene was removed and electricity of 38 mW m −2 was generated. The MFC ran continuously up to 120 days without maintenance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Apparent losses are one of the most important components of non-revenue water and mainly caused by water meter under-registration. This paper studies the performance of a water meter park from a developing country water utility in Ibarra city, Ecuador. The study includes three major aspects: water meter error curve reconstruction with seven different flow rates; water meter evaluation as a function of class, manufacturer and totalized registered volume, use of two water consumption patterns for weighted error determination and their influence on water balance and performance indicators analysis. Results indicate that 44% of analyzed meters works at optimal conditions. Weighted error obtained by using two different consumption patterns indicates a 0.95% difference, which has an important impact on water balance and performance indicator results. This detailed analysis of water meters can help to develop a more efficient water meter replacement strategy and to estimate apparent water loss volume more accurately. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

(DOI:101212/teme-2022-0033:) Footnotes 1 B Research funding: b Funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (joint project 03EI6025B) based on a resolution of the German Bundestag. Corrigendum to: Conformity assessment of photo-optical measurement data registration in legal metrology - ensuring admissibility as evidence of measurement data retrieved from legacy utility meters Corrigendum to: Conformity assessment of photo-optical measurement data registration in legal metrology - ensuring admissibility as evidence of measurement data retrieved from legacy utility meters/Konformitätsbewertung foto-optischer Messdatenregistrierung im gesetzlichen Messwesen - Messdaten aus Bestandsverbrauchsmessgeräten beweissicher auslesen. [Extracted from the article]