The smart grid allows for the transmission of electricity consumption, availability, peak vs. cheap cost information (to name a few) between the consumers and the utility over an Internet protocol infrastructure. Consequently, this means that if our nation were to one day become highly reliant on the communication of this information, terrorists might want to hack into the grid to create havoc. Matt Hamblen (writer for ComputerWorld) discusses this topic in detail from an IT Security practice perspective. In my opinion, I’m more afraid of my neighbor hoping over my fence to steal power from my outside house plug to save money when charging his/her electric car.
You and I might giggle a bit about that last comment, but would it surprise you to know that this very topic, of electricity theft and/or homeowner fraud are real considerations that our utility company needs to take into consideration when deciding on how to provide us with energy and charge for it? Remember that although fueling your vehicle with electricity is cheaper than filling it up with gas…there is still a cost to do it. Is it really a stretch to imagine scenario’s where unscrupulous people attempt different forms of energy theft or fraud to save a nickel?
The ability for the smart metering technology to identify consumers at the plug (and lockout unauthorized access) and report back to the utility for payment processing will be critical from a business standpoint. Moreover, what if you have a friend visiting you from another province or (for the sake of argument) from California and they need to plug in? How will the utility identify these people and provide them with energy. Again, the quality of the infrastructure at the point of plug-in will need to address this.
ComputerWorld Article:
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9141103/Verizon_launches_electric_grid_reliability_consulting?taxonomyId=17
