International Journal of Engineering and Technology

The power grid is aging and congested and faces new challenges and stresses that put at risk its ability to reliably deliver power to an economy that is increasingly dependent on electricity. A growing recognition of the need to modernize the grid to meet tomorrow’s challenges has found articulation in the vision of a Smart Grid. The essence of this vision is “a fullyautomated power delivery network that can ensure a two-way flow of electricity and information between the power plants and appliances and all points in between”. The three key technological components of the Smart Grid are distributed intelligence, broadband communications and automated control systems. It is considered that introduction of “Smart Grid” technology will improve the reliability of power system, quality of supply, efficiency of the power sector apart from being consumer friendly and ultimately reduces line losses. Regardless of how quickly various utilities embrace smart grid concepts, technologies, and systems, they all agree on the inevitability of this massive transformation. Focusing in on the role of Smart Meters, this paper lays out the importance of time shifting the load to off-peak hours to avail the benefit of the proposed smart tariff which aims on cost reduction for consumers for operating during off-peak hours thereby improving the reliability of the whole network.