The multitude of assets that are expected to be in operation in distribution grids of the future will contribute to increment significantly their complexity, resulting on several additional challenges to Distribution System Operators, especially regarding operational, security and reliability aspects. Loads, storage devices, generation units and electric vehicles supported by an advanced metering and communication infrastructure, capable of gathering and transmitting data in quasi real-time, could be a reality in the coming years. For the large majority of metering devices, it is predictable that all the acquired data might be recorded and transmitted to a database, where it will be stored for relatively long periods of time.