In the era of the digital economy

data has become a new key factor of production. Distribution networks are going through a digital transformation that has reshaped the landscape of consumer interaction

load forecasting

and energy management. However

high data barriers exist in the power sector

which is mainly attributed to legal regulations

business competition

and sharing platform limitations

posing significant obstacles to effective utilization of smart data. Therefore

it is essential to break down these barriers and promote data sharing to activate data production factors. In response to these three issues

privacy-preserving technologies are first summarized from two perspectives

namely privacy-preserving data query and data analysis

to ensure that data owners “feel free” to share their data. The existing overall data value quantification methods are classified into three perspectives: economic theory

information theory

and data science. The data value allocation schemes are concluded so that data owners are “willing” to share data. Furthermore

the platform designs based on blockchain and non-blockchain paradigms are proposed to ensure users “can” share their data. In addition

this work elaborates on the practical attempts made by energy enterprises such as China Southern Power Grid

State Grid Corporation of China

and ENN Natural Gas in the aspect of data sharing. Finally

the upcoming challenges of future smart meter data sharing are analyzed and summarized.