Patent ID: 8198999

Claim:
A method of using a computer system to operate a communication system for communicating data of an electrical power distribution network (EPDN) having a plurality medium voltage power lines and low voltage power lines, and wherein the communication system includes a plurality of network elements, with each network element having a first port coupled to a different low voltage power line of the EPDN at a different location, the method comprising: storing network element information for each of a multitude of the plurality of network elements in a memory; wherein said network element information comprises an address and information identifying the network element; transmitting a request to one or more network elements for low voltage parameter data comprising data of a measurement of a parameter of a low voltage power line to which the network element is coupled; in response to said transmitting, receiving low voltage parameter data from the one or more network elements; receiving an out of limit notification from one of said plurality of network elements; wherein the out of limit notification indicates that a parameter of the power carried by a low voltage power line has been measured by the one network element to be beyond a first threshold value; and storing the out of limit notification in memory.