DLMS User Association and the OpenADR Alliance have signed a global liaison agreement intended to tighten the connection between smart meter data exchange and the flexibility signalling now spreading across power systems at the grid edge. The immediate goal is to create a clearer interface between DLMS/COSEM, which is widely used for secure smart meter data exchange, and OpenADR, which provides standardised two-way signalling for demand response, distributed energy resources, and flexibility services.
That may sound like standards housekeeping, but it lands in a part of the energy system that is becoming harder to manage with proprietary interfaces and piecemeal integrations. Utilities are being asked to coordinate a more volatile mix of assets behind the meter, from batteries and EV chargers to heat pumps, solar, and building controls, while still preserving the integrity of regulated metering infrastructure. A structured bridge between meter data and flexibility commands is one way to reduce that friction without forcing everything into a single architecture.
Under the agreement, the two organisations will exchange technical information, review draft work, set up ad hoc task forces, and coordinate practical activities around interoperability. The work programme includes mapping the COSEM and OpenADR data models, exploring formal international standardisation routes, assessing whether DLMS/COSEM transport over OpenADR could be useful in some metrologically relevant use cases, and coordinating certification activity where that makes sense. Both sides will keep their own governance and certification schemes.
The wider context is moving in the same direction. DLMS has argued, citing industry analysis, that open and interoperable data exchange standards matter more as electrification, renewables, and behind-the-meter assets expand the number of devices that need to exchange trustworthy data at the grid edge. OpenADR, for its part, frames its role as the secure communications layer for dynamic price and reliability signals between utilities, system operators, and energy management systems.
The agreement also arrives as policymakers push for more data-rich, flexible energy systems. In Great Britain, the government said in March 2026 that nearly all consumers should have working smart meters by the end of 2030, and it is now developing detailed energy smart data proposals intended to make it easier for consumers to share energy data with authorised third parties. That policy direction does not depend on one liaison agreement, but it does make the case for cleaner interfaces between metering and flexibility markets harder to ignore.
Sergio Lazzarotto, President of the DLMS User Association, said the tie-up would help define “a practical interface between revenue grade metering and flexibility markets”, with the emphasis on scalable deployment without weakening the rigour required for regulated applications.
OpenADR’s Managing and Technical Director, Rolf Bienert, set out the other side of the equation: keeping customer-owned flexibility assets under customer control while still allowing tighter coordination where larger loads are involved. If the mapping work now under discussion turns into published standards and coordinated certification pathways, vendors and utilities could get a more straightforward route to integrating smart meters, home and building energy systems, and flexibility services without defaulting to bespoke interfaces.
