| news4all | 2019 | May 29, 2019 |
|
Dear Readers,
The OMS-Group is growing: We are pleased to welcome Hekatron Brandschutz as a new member. More new members are presently being considered. The update 4.3.4 of the Conformance Test Tool is also experiencing great demand. In this second newsletter of 2019 we have prepared further interesting topics about the Open Metering System. We hope you enjoy reading this edition and look forward to your comments and suggestions. Best regards, Charles van Dyck Head of the OMS Working Group Marketing |
The Interface for the Primary Communications – Provided by OMS AG 1
The OMS Working Group 1 (AG 1) defines the interface for the primary communication (communication between smart meter and gateway) based on EN 13757, the standard for the M-Bus, with a focus on Wireless M-Bus: clarification, containment and enhancement of the standardized characteristics.
The head of the Working Group, Bjarne Lund Jensen (Kamstrup A/S), introduced the future plans: "In 2019 the focus is on extending the OMS Specification Volume 2 with Use Case Support, describing in detail scenarios such as Meter Registration, Firmware Update and Encryption Key Management. With the decision made at the General Meeting in November 2018, to extend the OMS Specification Volume 2 with sensors, a “Task Force Sensors” has been established and has just begun with the definition of sensor types. The implementation of sensors in OMS Specification Vol. 2 takes place during 2020."
|
OMS Working Groups
|
OMS-Group to Certify Sensors in Future
Twelve member companies of the OMS-Group e. V. founded the "Task Force Sensors" at Techem in Eschborn in April. The intention is to accelerate OMS certification of these devices. This will facilitate the integration of interoperable sensors into the Open Metering System. 
The participants were (from left to right): Andreas Herz (QUNDIS), David Baum (Hekatron Brandschutz), Christophe Pelissier (Hager Security SAS), Thorsten Teichert (Ei Electronics), Convener Dirk Matussek (Techem Energy Services), Ronald Müller (ITRON/Allmess), Wolfgang Esch (WEPTECH elektronik), Johannes Münch – representative of Hans-Jörg Beyer (both WIKON Kommunikationstechnik), Bjarne Lund Jensen (Kamstrup A/S), Alexander Gertje (WEPTECH elektronik), Mathias Poulsen (Kamstrup A/S), Abdullah G. Khalil (Discovergy), David Rahusen (STACKFORCE) – not in the picture: Tobias Viertel (Hager Group/Atral-Secal) and Achim Reissinger (Project Manager of the OMS-Group). |
|
Three OMS Lectures in the First Half of 2019
OMS is sharpening its profile in the market. There have been three OMS-related presentations in recent months. 
Hartmut Michels, Managing Director at standata GmbH and member of the OMS Working Group Marketing, held an OMS lecture at the end of February at the Academy of Real Estate, Berlin (BBA) in Berlin-Brandenburg on the topic: "Digital Value Creation – Standardized Technology and Data for EED-compliant Measurement Services".
Wolfgang Esch, member of the OMS Executive Board, gave a lecture at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) at the beginning of April in Düsseldorf. The topic was "OMS Group e. V. – Open Communication Standard for Smart Metering". The audience were members of the PwC Arbeitskreis "Smart Metering". 
Charles van Dyck, head of the OMS Working Group Marketing, presented the OMS system to the joint drinking water distributors in Wallony (Belgium) early May. The session was an initiative of the University of Liège, to facilitate the introduction of smart water metering in Wallony. The title of the presentation was “Open Metering System – Off the Shelve M-Bus Interoperability” and focused on interoperability by certification.
|
Welcoming Our Newest Member Hekatron Brandschutz
Protecting people and property as best as possible in an emergency was, is and will remain the driving force of Hekatron Brandschutz in the field of fire protection technology in Germany. With its innovative products and services, the company, which is headquartered in Sulzburg in southern Baden, has been playing a key role in the development of fire protection technology for more than 55 years, assuming social responsibility and being committed to environmental protection.
Why did Hekatron Brandschutz become an OMS-Group member? Hekatron Brandschutz would like to play an active role in the development of communication standards for future solutions in plant fire protection. Membership therefore gives the new members access to first-hand information on standardization in metering. At the same time, the OMS-Group benefits from the experience and expertise of Hekatron Brandschutz. |
Join the OMS-Group on LinkedIn
The OMS-Group is recently available on the social network LinkedIn. In addition to the website www.oms-group.org, news from the world of interoperable OMS smart meters and gateways are frequently presented now on our LinkedIn page. Almost 450 followers are already connected.
|
Metering in Focus – Amendment of Directive 2012/27/EU on Energy Efficiency
Andreas Bolder, Spokesperson of the OMS-Group, explains the connection between the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) and metering.
On 11.12.2018 the European Union adopted the Directive (EU) 2018/2002 amending Directive 2012/27/EU on energy efficiency. With this amendment, the Commission continues the principle of "energy efficiency first". By 31 October 2022, the Commission will assess whether the Union has achieved its 2020 headline targets on energy efficiency. Following the adaptation of individual articles such as article 7 Energy savings obligation substantial new articles have been added. In addition to the description of energy efficiency obligation schemes (article 7a) and alternative policy measures (article 7b), in particular, the articles on the consumption of energy have been either amended or inserted. The current article 9 Metering was modified to the extent that it now describes only the specifications for Metering for gas and electricity. The requirements contained in this article for the metering of district heating, district cooling and domestic hot water have been shifted into separate articles. The new article 9a describes the Metering for heating and cooling and domestic hot water. This applies to all meters for thermal energy and hot drinking water which are installed, operated and billed directly e.g. by utility companies. The new article 9b describes Sub-metering and cost allocation for heating, cooling and domestic hot water. This applies to all meters and heat cost allocators for therm al energy and hot drinking water which are installed, operated and used for cost distribution e.g. by energy service providers. The new article 9c Remote reading requirement specifies deadlines for the meters and allocation devices required in articles 9a and 9b, from which only remotely readable devices may be installed or from which the stock has been upgraded or replaced by remotely readable devices. These deadlines are summarized at the end of this article. The new article 10a Billing and consumption information for heating, cooling and domestic hot water stipulates that only actually read meters or heat cost allocators may be used for billing or consumption information. The reading may also be a self-reading carried out by the final customer. Billing on the basis of a consumption estimate or a flat-rate tariff is only permitted in defined exceptional cases. The new ANNEX VIIA Minimum requirements for billing and consumption information for heating, cooling and domestic hot water describes billing based on actual consumption or heat cost allocator readings, minimum frequency of billing or consumption information as well as minimum information contained in the bill. Listed below are the relevant deadlines for all parties involved:
|
OMS Moves Forward – Report from the Executive Board
At our 2nd board meeting it was a pleasure to see that the new board has fully come together and can move forward and discuss and work every bit as openly and efficiently as was done in the past.
About a year ago we started a discussion with another certification body about the option of offering our members and third party companies a choice regarding OMS certification. We are happy to announce that our negotiations have been successful and that in mid-May we signed an agreement with the VDE Testing and Certification Institute (VDE PZI). Soon you will find the proceedings on our website. Intellectual property rights (IPR) are also an issue for OMS. The European Standards series EN 13757 which is the basis of our OMS Specification draws attention to the possibility that some elements in part may be the subject of patent rights. Therefore we will ask a university to study if fulfilment of the OMS Specification may lead to a possible infringement of IPRs. This study shall be completed this year. We will report about the outcome once concluded. One task given to the board by the members during last year’s general meeting is fulfilled. On our 2nd board meeting we took the decision about the future scope of OMS AG 6 and the OMS members were duly informed via email. 2019 continues to be an exciting year for OMS. Big tasks for the board still remain to be solved this year however we are on schedule. The next OMS board meeting will be held on June, 25th in Erfurt. |
|
Events 2019
Meet the OMS experts! Here are some of the dates you should put in your calendar: 
|
