1. Introduction

The worldwide electric-power industry is undergoing a transformation unlike anything that it has seen in over a century. The entire supply chain for electricity, including how the power is generated, transmitted, distributed, and consumed, is being overhauled with the goal of establishing a more sustainable energy future. Adopting new technologies and the associated market restructuring are a complex undertaking that requires knowledge about the many interacting variables and the conflicting cost functions for various market participants, such as power producers, system operators, load-serving entities, regulators, aggregators, service providers, and consumers. The smart grid is an information-enriched energy network, and it is going to require substantial information processing, storage, and data-mining resources. An entirely new software sector is being created to meet the challenges and to fill the many needs resulting from smart grid’s arrival. Spending for the Smart grid is estimated to be $165 billion over the next 20 years, and a good portion of this cost will be for software and data services [RPT07, AW05]. The Smart grid is a complex, highly networked system that must operate in diverse, often-challenging environments that combine large and complex facilities with vast numbers of edge nodes, e.g., the smart meters that are grid’s consumer-fronting boundary. The smart meters require sophisticated software in order to operate efficiently. Upgrading utility information and control infrastructure is critical to maintain the electric distribution system’s reliability at a time of rising costs.