Blockchain Technology for Electric Utility Consumption

萨斯克电力公司是萨斯喀彻温省的主要电力公司。该公司最近一直积极研究和开发创新的软件解决方案，以优化公共电力系统的管理和规划，包括发电和输电。在这方面，电力公用事业市场存在改进的机会，也存在可以通过区块链技术解决的困难。其中一个机会是为大客户提供统一的动态费率，并提供透明的可靠电表信息以及自动合同（智能商业费率）。这些费率对应于之前与客户达成的每月平均电力消耗的固定费率协议（通常用于工业），满足一组约束。考虑到使用不同的系统和每个客户端的费率变化，由于每个客户端都有不同的规则，因此需要手动流程。限制因素包括客户协议、最近几个月的平均价格、额外费用和新费率的规定。虽然这个问题已经在文献中得到了广泛的研究，但大多数作品使用的方法是集成系统并为客户端创建web视图。然而，这是不实际的，因为存在从仪表到客户端的可信数据以及每个客户端的不同业务规则方面的问题。我们提出了一个基于智能技术的解决方案。为了应对系统内部透明度和动态业务规则的挑战，我们将采用区块链的使用。这些信息将由智能电表提供，它将把更新的信息直接发送到区块链。通过智能合约技术，我们将能够根据每个客户调整业务规则（包括费用和合同执行的动态变化）。有了可靠的数据，我们可以在系统中监管机构（来自政府）和金融机构（自动支付账单并获得有关大额收入的通知）。这种新方法将减少时间和资源，为askpower节省资金，并提高客户满意度。

SaskPower is the principal electric utility in Saskatchewan. The company has been recently active in theresearch and development of innovative software solutions to optimize the management and planning of publicpower systems including generation and transmission. In this regard, there are opportunities for improvementas well as identified difficulties in the power utilities market that could be addressed with the Blockchaintechnology. One of these opportunities is a unified way to get the dynamic rates for the bigger consumers withthe transparency of a trustable information of their meters along with the automated contracts (Smart BusinessRates). These rates correspond to the previous agreement with the client for the average monthly powerconsumption with a fixed rate (normally for industries), satisfying a set of constraints. Given the use ofdifferent systems and the change of rates for each client, a manual process is needed since there is a differentrule for each client. Constraints include the client agreement as well as the average of the last months and therules for extra fees and new rates. While this problem has been extensively studied in the literature, most of theworks use an approach that integrates the system and creates web views for the clients. This is not howeverpractical as there are issues regarding trustable data from meters to the client as well as different business rulesfor each client. We propose a solution based on smart technology. In order to address the challenges oftransparency and dynamic business rules inside of a system, we will adopt the use of Blockchain. Theinformation will be provided by smart meters that will send the updates directly to the Blockchain. With thesmart contract technology, we will be able to adjust the business rules according to each customer (includingdynamic changes of fees and contract execution). With a trustable data, we can in the system both theRegulator Body (from the government) and the financial institutions (to automate the bills payments and getnotifications regarding large incomes). This new approach will reduce time and resources, saves money toSaskPower and increase the client's satisfaction.