INGENIEUR
Stage 4: Billing tamper detection, supply
automation, smart billing (pre/
post-paid) and Time of Use (TOU)
The AMI project will be beneficial to the
consumers as well as TNB. As for the RMR system,
remote meter reading capability will mitigate
consumer premise inaccessibility, “estimated
bill” issues and billing errors. Customers will be
able to monitor their electricity usage using an inhome display or web portal, thereby providing them
with the ability to improve their electricity usage
pattern and reduce energy costs. Other benefits
like outage notification, post/prepaid options and
demand side management will also be available.
Future Grid Operations through Smart Grid
Smart grid is an electricity grid modernisation
programme that relies on communications and
IT for monitoring control and management of
generation, transmission, distribution, storage
and consumption of energy, and enables customer
participation. Smart grids aim to achieve:
Higher grid reliability,
●●
Increased energy efficiency,
●●
Improved operational efficiency,
●●
Reduced CO2 emissions, and
●●
Increased customer participation.
●●
TNB is currently formulating a seven-year
roadmap to implement smart grid projects that will
cover the following main areas:
AMI/Smart Meters,
●●
Distribution
Automation/Distribution
●●
Management System,
Demand Response,
●●
Self-healing rings/Wide area intelligent
●●
systems,
Distributed energy resources, and
●●
Advanced Condition Based Maintenance
●●
(TNB Research Sdn Bhd, 2014, pp. 3-72).
be addressed during system design stage and
continuously monitored to minimise business
continuity interruption or disaster.
TNB’s preparedness to mitigate cyber security
threats or attacks is summarised as follows:
All cyber security controls to be in-line
●●
with the “Confidentiality, Integrity and
Availability” fundamentals.
Being certified with ISO/IEC 27001:2005
●●
Information
Security
Management
System (ISMS) for its critical power
system infrastructure.
Establishing cyber security policy,
●●
governance processes, skilled resources,
Cyber Security Incident Response
Teams (CSIRT), business continuity
management, technology such as firewall,
Intrusion Detection/Prevention System,
Anti-malware/spam/web-defacement,
Data Leakage Protection, etc.
Participating in annual National Cyber
●●
Crisis Exercise to ensure timely response
and proper handling of cyber security
incidents.
Conclusion
ICT plays a key role in enabling business to
achieve operational excellence in electric power
utilities as shown through examples of systems
used for asset management, customer service
and operations in TNB. Automation and systems
based processes are replacing manual processes
to increase operational efficiency, enhance asset
management, improve supply reliability and provide
better customer service. ICT will be increasingly
used in the future to support new initiatives
such as smart grid/smart meter implementation.
Cyber security risks require greater attention and
comprehensive treatment in the future with the
implementation of these new initiatives.
REFERENCES
Cyber Security
The pervasive use of ICT, especially IP network
connections for implementing smart grid/smart
meters project increase cyber security risks.
Cyber security risks include intrusion, ma