SmartRate: A rating interpretation mechanism for agents in smart grid markets

We present SmartRate, a trust and reputation-based decision framework for Smart Grid, based on the available ratings provided by other customers. This model considers multiple trust factors associated with the broker and the preferences of customers for each of these factors. We define a decision framework for broker selection based on multi-attribute utility function and show how learning customers' rating behaviors helps to increase a decision maker's utility. We evaluate this framework by simulating a market based on real-world data. Our results show that learning the characteristics of a rating population helps to interpret and personalize the ratings, which results in better decision making and an increase in customer satisfaction.