# The Role of Smart Meters in Enabling Real-Time Energy Services for Households: The Italian Case
## 8 Conclusions  
In accordance with the European directives, new-generation SMs should be able to directly supply measurements to the final customer through the usage of different IHDs and smart devices, with the goal of enabling real-time services in the domains of energy awareness, home automation, load shifting, and demand response. In order to achieve and maintain customer engagement, metering data and other related information should be presented in a clear and intuitive way. Moreover, IHDs should be cheap and easy to install. Sampling time for metering data and latency for the communications between the SM and the final node are crucial parameters for the provisioning of these kinds of services: latency evaluation for each use case should consider the time required to pass through all the nodes of the communications path. Due to the sensitive nature of the data exchanged, effort should be devoted to cyber security with the goal of ensuring authenticity, confidentiality, and integrity by exploiting cryptography techniques. In this paper, we review different configurations in terms of architectures and telecommunications technologies. Generally, it is not possible to identify a common standard configuration since use cases and customers' availabilities vary on a case-by-case basis. Architecture 1, along with communications over PLC-C, can satisfy most of the use cases regarding energy awareness with reduced costs and simple installation for the customer. Architecture 2 is advised for the scheduling and control services involving deferrable loads such as washing machines, dishwashers, and electric vehicles. In a ToU or RTP regime, these devices can defer or interrupt their cycles according to the market or network, even without direct humaninteraction. This configuration implies the constant need for a HAN provided by the customer. Wired technologies like PLC-C or optical fibers are suited for connecting the SM to the HAN. For in-home SM installations, short-range wireless technologies like 6 loWPAN, BLE, and Wi-Fi HaLow can also be used for this family of services. With the presence of an authorized third party, Architecture 3 could be the best choice for cloud-based services, implying the need of metering data and additional information such as energy prices or DR requests. Cellular-based technologies as well as LPWAN match the majority of these kinds of use cases. Finally, Architecture 4 provides the most flexibility. At the cost of an IHD-GW, it can provide simple and cheap services or advanced but costly solutions, with or without the presence of a service provider. The IHD-GW collects data coming from the SM and ancillary channels and forwards them to other IHDs such as smart appliances, smart devices, dedicated displays, or third-party services through the HAN. The presence of an authorized service provider always requires the availability of a public WAN supplied by the customer. Using Architecture 4, it is possible to start with a simple configuration and evolve it over time. Moreover, it simplifies the SM itself, eliminating the cybersecurity issues caused by bidirectional communications. The IHD-GW receives metering data from the SM, combines them with other information, and, possibly, forwards the enriched data to other IHDs or third parties. The authors would like to thank the Italian Authority of Electricity, Gas and Water for the support provided during the writing of this article. [PERSON] wrote the main description of the SM standards, identified the use cases, and made the comparison. [PERSON] and [PERSON] identified the architectures and collaborated on the comparison. [PERSON] identified the communications technologies. [PERSON] wrote the description of the SM standards and identified the normative references. The authors declare no conflict of interest. The following abbreviations are used in this manuscript: