Patent ID: 7188003

Claim:
An energy management device for use in an energy management architecture for managing an energy distribution system, said energy management architecture comprising a network, said energy management device comprising: an energy distribution system interface operative to couple said energy management device with at least a portion of said energy distribution system; a network interface operative to couple said energy management device with said network for transmitting outbound communications to said network and receiving inbound communications from said network, said inbound communications comprising first energy management data and said outbound communications comprising second energy management data; a processor coupled with said network interface and said energy distribution system interface, said processor operative to perform at least one energy management function on said at least a portion of said energy distribution system via said energy distribution system interface, said processor further operative to process said first energy management data and generate said second energy management data as a function of said energy management function; wherein at least one of said inbound communications comprises at least one secured inbound communication, said network interface further comprising a security module operative to selectively encrypt said outbound communications and validate said at least one secured inbound communication.