IEC Introduces Standards for Prepaid Electricity Meters - IEC 62055-41, IEC 62055-51
July 24, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS
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The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) issued IEC 62055-41 - Electricity metering - Payment systems - Part 41: Standard transfer specification (STS) - Application layer protocol for one-way token carrier systems and IEC 62055-51 - Electricity metering - Payment systems - Part 51: Standard transfer specification (STS) - Physical layer protocol for one-way numeric and magnetic card token carriers.
In 28 countries there are 10 million prepayment electricity meters being used by about 400 utilities. Prepayment means a person puts in a token and in return they can use a certain amount of electricity.
Utility companies install, operate and maintain these meters and, for economies of scale, they want them to function smoothly within a single system.
STS is an IEC specification initially developed by the STS Association to provide for an open system for payment meters.
The specification was stable for 13 years and is the de-facto industry standard at national and international levels. The primary use of the STS was for single-rate meters employing numeric keypad and magnetic card tokens.
STS uses a secure message protocol that allows information to be carried between point of sale equipment and prepayment meters and it caters to several message types such as credit, configuration control, display and test instructions.
It further specifies devices and codes of practice that allow for the secure management (generation, storage, retrieval and transportation) of cryptographic keys used within the system.
Before STS existed, a variety of proprietary payment meters and vending systems were around but they were not compatible with each other, said the IEC.
For large utilities this meant they had different incompatible systems that had to operate simultaneously and so they pushed for a single, standardized solution to the problem, said the IEC. STS allows for the application and interoperability of payment meters and vending equipment from multiple manufacturers in a prepayment metering/vending installation.
A single, standardized solution to the problem helps to keep the costs of electricity delivery lower, said the IEC. Although the main use of the STS is in the electricity supply industry, it could also be employed in the water and gas industries.
With these standards, utilities will be able to create prepayment vending systems without being locked into proprietary technology or into a sole supplier of prepayment meters, said the IEC. This ensures that they are putting into operation a secure, proven technology with years of experience behind its development and application.
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The STS Association is an industry consortium formed in 1997 as the custodian of the STS prepayment metering technology standard.
Source: International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).