Big data privacy in the utility industry

Technology is becoming bigger and bigger part of our lives. We cannot imagine our lives without our smartphone, laptop, tablet and all the gadgets that we frequently use. Technology is everywhere, it is in our hands, in our clothes, in our homes. We get all of the information from the connected “things”, hence the word: internet of things. The utility industry has endured many technological advances over the past years and nowadays we are seeing the IoT technology applied also in utility sector in terms of smart metering devices which transmit all sorts of information regarding the users’ consumption, habits and recording any component flaws that might occur. But, how much of all of this is legal? Is it really practical to have all of these information about the users, or is it just creepy? We often do not realize how much information we are sharing and how many traces we are leaving on the internet. The technical solutions that we create have to be the intersection between what is technically possible to be done and what is legally possible to be done. We have to protect the personal sensitive data of the users and avoid any mishap that might lead to their identification. That is why, there is a legal framework created and dedicated to the protection of personal data of the people. This thesis has the aim to give an overview of the possibilities that the smart metering technology provides us for the utility industry, followed by the legal framework of protecting the consumers’ data that we can extract with that technology and proposing ways to protect that data with accordance to the law.