The Load Management Functions that must be delivered by the Smart Metering System

Great-Britain´s unique Radio Teleswitch System (RTS) was developed in the 1970s, deployed en-masse by the Electricity Industry during the 80s and 90s. Today it controls electric storage and water-heating in homes numbering in the low millions. The need for its development mirrors the conditions of the near future, where much generating plant capacity will close and there will be a great expansion of electric heating in the form of heat-pumps. The system allowed this expansion to occur while limiting its economic impact on generation, transmission and distribution networks. This is as relevant today as it was in the past and provides functionality that the Smart Metering System (SMS) must duplicate, or else trigger network investments and higher costs for consumers.