Our Services

Smart Pear DCC Adapter Service (SPA)

SPA is a fully managed service, allowing DCC Users a rapid and cost effective solution to access smart metering data and DCC functionality.

SPA has been exclusively developed by the Smart Pear team in the UK.

The SPA offers a complete turnkey solution for your business, allowing seamless integration with your IT systems as well as rapid access to smart metering data and functionality for DCC Users.

SPA is a UK based secure cloud hosted solution, which allows for high availability, resilience, performance, security, and scalability as standard.

Why the Smart Pear SPA?

The Smart Pear Adapter (SPA) is a Secure UK Cloud hosted ‘software as a solution’ (SaaS), designed using Industry Standard protocols.

The SPA can be integrated with your systems to automate your business processes or can be used via our secure and dedicated web based Client Portal for ad-hoc requests.

SPA provides:

  • A DCC and SEC compliant solution.
  • Quick and easy access to the DCC and Smart Meters via our own DCC User Gateway Connection.
  • Simple and seamless integration with your own back-end IT Systems.
  • Flexible deployment and integration options.
  • No reliance on on-premises infrastructure or software deployments.
  • Confidence in outsourcing of your SEC security obligations.
  • Options to either integrate in an automated fashion with your own IT Systems, or to use our ad-hoc Web UI.
  • Support for SMETS1 and SMETS2+ meters.
  • Support for prepayment and UTRN generation for SMETS2+ meters.
  • A fully customisable implementation to suit your specific business orchestrations and Device sets.

Smart Pear SPA – Key Features

  • A fully hosted and managed service
  • Complete SMKI/IKI/DCCKI key management
  • UEPT and SREPT management
  • Anomaly Detection Threshold (ADT) management (including Supply Sensitive Checks)
  • Certificate Signing Request (CSR) forecasts
  • Service Request Forecasts
  • Business Orchestration Layer (BOL)
  • System to System integration and Web UI for ad-hoc requests to the DCC
  • Industry standard protocols for simple integration including: XML, JSON, YAML and HTTPS
  • DCC and Device alert management
  • SEC security assurance support

The below schematic shows a high level view of the SPA architecture.

gb_smart_metering_overview_incl_smart_pear "GB Smart Metering Overview"

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SMKI Device Certificate Service (DCS) and Device Pre-Notification Service (DPNS)

Independent of our DCC Adapter service, Smart Pear offers a Device Certificate Service (DCS) and Device Pre-notification Service (DPNS) for MAPs, MOPs, Meter Manufacturers, CAD service providers, and Device Manufacturers. Independent of our DCC Adapter service, Smart Pear offers a Device Certificate Service (DCS) and Device Pre-notification Service (DPNS) for MAPs, MOPs, Meter Manufacturers, CAD service providers, and Device Manufacturers.

The Service allows you to efficiently:

  • Submit Device Pre-notifications
  • Batch Submit Device CSRs
  • Request return of processed Device CSRs as Device Public Key Certificates

Smart Pear operates as the Eligible and Authorised Subscriber in accordance with the Smart Energy Code (SEC) on behalf of your organisation.

The Service operates on an assured and secure mechanism and has been independently security assessed by the User CIO and is fully compliant with the DCC.

The below schematic shows an overview of how the service works.

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Export Supplier Services (ESS)

The Export Supplier Service (ESS) allows you to accurately monitor how much electricity you are feeding back into the Grid.

Renewable energy generated from wind turbines, solar panels, hydro and anaerobic digesters currently generate over 9% of the UK’s energy mix – a figure which has doubled over the last five years and equates to enough energy to power 8.4 million homes.

Home Electricity Storage Systems and Electric Vehicles (EVs) have the ability to store electricity, either generated from these local renewable energy sources or charged from the Grid during low tariff periods of the day.

Both Renewable Energy and Stored Energy can then be sold back into the Grid during peak and high tariff periods, allowing for financial benefit or reduced billing.

Under the soon the be replaced Feed-in Tariff, the export for most homes was not directly measured but was fixed at 50% of total electricity generated. Under the new Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) all electricity exported to the Grid must now be metered, using a Smart Meter that is capable of reading half-hourly export volumes.

Our Export Supplier Service is accessed via our DCC Adapter Service and is designed to support the SEG requirement and allows efficient retrieval of export volumes from the meter.

Please also see Community Energy & Renewables.

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DCC and Device Data Services (DDS)

The Smart Pear DDS enables organisations to obtain data from the DCC and from Devices managed through the DCC e.g. Smart Meters, Comms Hubs etc.

The DDS allows an organisation rapid access to data without the need to become a DCC User in the first instance.

As Smart Pear is ‘Other User’ in its own right, it allows organisations quick access to data available to the Other User.

Data available through the DDS includes:

  • Detailed information about the status of Devices such as SMI status, firmware version, date commissioned, Device type, Device model etc. See use case below.
  • Consumer energy consumption data such as import profile data, export profile data, current tariff etc.

IDDS provides significant benefit and insight to organisations such as Meter Asset Providers, Meter Manufacturers and any organisation that has an interest in smart meter Devices that they either own, or are responsible for maintaining.

DDS provides significant benefits and insight to organisations providing energy advice and energy saving services to energy consumers through visibility of consumer consumption data.

The data provided by Smart Pear’s DDS is not available through existing industry data flows that sit outside of the DCC.

Smart Pear’s DDS provides a quick and simple solution for communicating with the DCC and obtaining data as and when you need it.

DDS Use Case Example: Meter Asset Provider and Device Manufacturers

Why is the Device data Important?

Device data that is held by the DCC is not held anywhere else. The DCC Smart Meter Inventory (SMI) is the single data source for Devices that form part of the GB Smart Metering Infrastructure and are managed through the DCC.

Devices on the SMI include:

  • SMETS1 Devices (once enrolled and adopted in the DCC)
  • SMETS2+ Devices – these being: Electricity Smart Metering Equipment (ESME), Gas Smart Metering Equipment (GSME), Communications Hub Function (CHF), HAN Controlled Auxiliary Load Control Switch (HCALCS), Prepayment Metering Interface Device (PPMID), In-Home Display (IHD) and Consumer Access Device (CAD).

Having access to such data through the DCC allows:

Meter Manufacturers to interact with installed and operational Smart Meters for the efficient reading of firmware version, diagnostics, maintenance and evaluation, prior to physical inspection or replacement of a Smart Meter. The data can provide valuable information to triage problems with Devices, and the capability to interact with Devices allows you to retrieve key data items direct from the Devices.

Meter Asset Providers onward interrogation of the location (site) and status of their assets by querying the DCC systems and the Devices direct. This data set provides valuable information to Meter Asset Providers that is not available anywhere else outside of the DCC. This data coupled with existing industry data provides a more complete view of the life-cycle of their assets and their current status. This information is extremely useful when working with Energy Suppliers and meter manufacturers to diagnose problems and ensure their clients (Energy Suppliers) comply with their own Smart Energy Code (SEC) obligations with regards to Devices.

Additionally, data about Devices connected on a HAN can also be obtained which is useful information to Meter Asset Providers who are often interested in Device sets that have been installed and commissioned.

For a full data list and further details on the DCC Data Service, please contact us.

The below schematic shows an overview of how the service works.

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Consumer Access Device (CAD) Join / Unjoin Service (SPCADS)

The SPCADS is aimed at 3rd party organisations offering Consumer Access Devices (CAD) to Energy Consumers. In order to connect a CAD, the 3rd party organisation must instruct DCC to pre-notify the CAD and then instruct the DCC to join the CAD to the Energy Consumer’s Smart Meters. The CAD could be anything from a device that feeds back energy consumption data over a secure internet connection to a smart fridge or any other smart home energy device that connects to the Energy Consumer’s Smart Meters.

The SPCADS provides a fully automated solution for:

  • CAD Device Pre-notifications
  • Fully orchestrated instructions for joining / unjoining CADs from an Energy Consumer’s Smart Meters.

The SPCADS is fully configurable to meet the business processes / customer journeys defined by the 3rd party organisation providing the CADs.