{"id":2346,"date":"2014-01-17T00:00:52","date_gmt":"2014-01-17T05:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/masspirates.org\/blog\/?p=2346"},"modified":"2014-01-16T23:45:38","modified_gmt":"2014-01-17T04:45:38","slug":"today-submit-comments-on-smart-meters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/masspirates.org\/blog\/2014\/01\/17\/today-submit-comments-on-smart-meters\/","title":{"rendered":"Today: Submit Comments on Smart Meters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a style=\"padding: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;\" alt=\"many meters\" href=\"https:\/\/masspirates.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/manymeters.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/masspirates.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/manymeters.jpg\" alt=\"manymeters\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2349\" \/><\/a>The Department of Public Utilities (DPU) is seeking comments on the introduction of smart meters to Massachusetts. \u00a0Smart meters can send data on a customer&#8217;s usage as well as potentially receive commands, such as to disconnect a user from the grid.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The DPU expects to receive comments by 5pm Today, Friday, 1\/17.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We have multiple questions about smart meters that need to be addressed before they are introduced:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Exactly how detailed will the data gathered be? Will it be simply kilowatt hours used or will the data such meters gather be more detailed?<\/li>\n<li>Will such meters securely encrypt their communications, preventing third parties from monitoring a customer&#8217;s usage or potentially affecting the operation of the meter?<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 13px;\">Will utilities ensure<\/span>\u00a0that the data they receive is identical to the data the\u00a0<span style=\"font-size: 13px;\">meter transmitted or\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 13px;\">actually originated from the meter? \u00a0Will they use<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 13px;\">\u00a0public key cryptography and\u00a0<\/span>message signing?<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 13px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 13px;\">Who owns the data they collect? \u00a0Can it be sold or monitored in real time? \u00a0Will governments need a warrant to get it?\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Can a customer of the utility obtain a copy of her\u00a0meter data?<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 13px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 13px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 13px;\">Exactly what data is transmitted? \u00a0What is the record format? \u00a0Is it in\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>a proprietary record format, or does it adhere to an open\u00a0standard?<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 13px;\">For how long will the utility company retain meter data?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Should the meter be able to<span style=\"font-size: 13px;\">\u00a0accept remote commands, we have additional questions:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What commands can the meter receive and what actions will the\u00a0meter take in response to those commands? \u00a0In other words, what is\u00a0the meter&#8217;s remote API?<\/li>\n<li>How does the meter verify that a remote command came from the customer&#8217;s utility and not\u00a0a malicious third party?<\/li>\n<li>What happens when the electric company&#8217;s credentials are\u00a0compromised?<\/li>\n<li>For the models deployed, have they been subjected to a security\u00a0audit? \u00a0Are customers able to review meter security audits?<\/li>\n<li>Will the electric company periodically upgrade the software running\u00a0on meters? \u00a0How will these updates be conducted? \u00a0How will the\u00a0meter verify that the software update came from the electric\u00a0company, as opposed to a malicious third party? \u00a0Will customers be\u00a0informed when software upgrades are done?<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 13px;\">Will customers be able to obtain a copy of the meter&#8217;s source code so that they can independently verify that it is secure?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Finally, why do smart meters need to be deployed at individual\u00a0customer residences? \u00a0If the goal is to obtain details\u00a0on power consumption, then why can&#8217;t this be done at the transformer\u00a0level since a single transformer often serves several residences?<\/p>\n<p><strong>How to Submit a Comment<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13px;\">We urge you to submit comments on this proposal. \u00a0You can send your comments to:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>To:<\/strong> &#8220;Mark D. Marini, DPU Secretary&#8221; &lt;mark.marini@state.ma.us&gt;,\u00a0dpu.efiling@state.ma.us<\/p>\n<p><strong>Subject:<\/strong>\u00a0DPU Docket 12-76-A, December 23, 2013,<\/p>\n<p><strong>Body Text:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>RE:<br \/>\nDPU Docket 12-76-A, December 23, 2013,<br \/>\nInvestigation by the Department of Public Utilities on its own Motion into Modernization of the Electric Grid.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13px;\">&lt;your comments.\u00a0The limit is 25 pages but one short page is also effective&gt;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 13px;\">Be sure to include your name, address, phone and email address.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Please\u00a0be sure to submit your request\u00a0by 5pm Today, Friday, 1\/17.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How to Request to be on a Panel<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There will be panel discussions in late February. \u00a0<span style=\"font-size: 13px;\">Individuals who wish to participate on a panel must email the same addresses listed above and: <\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>provide their name, complete contact information (i.e., address, telephone number, and email address) and affiliation, if any;<\/li>\n<li>summarize their qualifications;<\/li>\n<li>identify the subject matter on which they wish to comment; and<\/li>\n<li>briefly summarize the conclusions, opinions, and basis for the subject matter on which they wish to comment.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Use the format comment email listed above and be sure to \u00e7<\/p>\n<p>Thanks!<\/p>\n<p><em>Image courtesy of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/manywinters\/\">Manywinters<\/a>\u00a0via Creative Commons license.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Department of Public Utilities (DPU) is seeking comments on the introduction of smart meters to Massachusetts. \u00a0Smart meters can send data on&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":2349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[32,10,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-slider","category-privacy","category-security"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/masspirates.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/manymeters.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1W8mg-BQ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/masspirates.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/masspirates.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/masspirates.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/masspirates.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/masspirates.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2346"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/masspirates.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2356,"href":"https:\/\/masspirates.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2346\/revisions\/2356"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/masspirates.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/masspirates.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/masspirates.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/masspirates.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}