# The Role of Smart Meters in Enabling Real-Time Energy Services for Households: The Italian Case
## 3 The Second-Generation Italian Smart Meter
### Non-Validated Metering Data on \"Chain 2\"  
In the SM-1G context, the standard way for customers to receive information about their energy consumption and production is a periodic bill. Nevertheless, the display mandated by the MID [30] and integrated in the SM is not suitable for automated, real-time reading. Thus, SM-2G has been conceived from the beginning for supplying directly to the customers real-time metering data by means of paired IHDs for data acquisition, visualization, and utilization. It can provide instantaneous active power, daily energy curves, alerts, and contractual information. The sending frequency can be chosen according to the customer's needs and the available bandwidth of the communications channel. The choice of the communications technology is left to the DSOs, which, as resulted from the public consultation conducted by AEEGSI, have to use two different physical channels for Chain 1 and Chain 2. In case PLC is used for Chain 2, the CENELC PLC band C (PLC-C) [26] is the best suited, whereas Chain 1 operates on CENELC PLC band A. A well-established protocol operating in the PLC-C band is still not available, but proposals are currently discussed in standardization bodies and a nationwide standard is expected to be available soon.  
Customers will receive metering data thanks to IHDs communicating with the SM-2G. Examples of IHD can be a simple external display used by those customers who have their SM in the basement, or a more evolved dashboard showing the daily energy curves of the past days, a smart appliance, or even an Energy Management System (EMS). Moreover, dashboards and automated systems can receive information coming from other market players (e.g., energy market, service providers, etc.) and cross check them with the metering data in a sophisticated system that aims to make customers aware of the advantages of responsible use of energy.  
Currently, due to SM-1G limitations, retailers can only offer contracts with fixed time bands, in which energy prices vary according to a predefined time structure. Thanks to SM-2G, time bands can virtually become one hour long and vary between days. The tariff regime moves towards RTP, where the customer pays for energy according to the same price fluctuations imposed by the wholesale energy market. The scope of a similar strategy is to encourage load shifting in exchange for bill savings.  
In addition, DSOs can inform their customers about network outages or ask for a DR request in exchange for a reimbursement in case of network emergency or vulnerability. Integrated with a more evolved home automation system, IHDs can allow automatic scheduling consumptions and thus savings with no human interaction.  
Due to the sensible nature of the data exchanged and the openness of the PLC band C protocol, the Regulatory Authority imposed some requirements on the communications for privacy reasons, as required by Directive 2012/27/EU [31]. According to the decision 87/2016/R/eel [32], both communications channels (between SM and IHD and between SM and HES) must ensure confidentiality, authenticity, and integrity. Moreover, metering data have to be encrypted for obtaining adequate privacy levels. Figure 2 shows the new Italian AMI for SM-2G, highlighting the main actors involved.