ISLAMABAD: Inordinate delay in the enforcement of the advance metering infrastructure project is encouraging theft of electricity as a result of which billions of rupees power theft is going unabated. Advance Metering Infrastructure (AMI) project was planned in 2015 at a cost of 400 Million Dollars for IESCO and LESCO by ADB.
Advance Metering Infrastructure (AMI) project (2015), funded cost of 400 Million Dollars for IESCO and LESCO by ADB which was planned to manage supply & demand through eliminating theft and reduce costs for metering and billing/ improving line losses. The project formalities like approval of ECNEC and Cabinet were obtained by the previous government.
Former Power Minister of PTI, Omer Ayub Khan and SAPM, Nadeem Babar on behalf of the government requested ADB to relive the project which ADB accepted in later half of 2018. Korean Telecom Corporation has extended loan bid bond for 9th time due to indecisiveness and lack of focus towards Digitalization in power sector. Korean state-owned company has won the biding process in September 2019 worth 117 Million Dollar projects for IESCO to install the digital metering to stop theft, transformer load position monitoring timely reading and billing, however, project is being delayed unnecessarily by Bureaucracy at the wishes of senior govt official on their interest that contract may be given to Lahore based company. Project has
USD 2.2 million commitment charges, if cancelled by the Government.
This turnkey AMI project includes a complete “state of the art” Smart Electricity meter Grid with complete communication infrastructure and Oracle database (ERM), Customer Care and Billing software, state of the art Computer DATA CENTERS. These meters will have their own unique IP addresses and will provide real time online meter reading and online communication of critical data such as Voltage, Amperage and other Electricity parameters to DISCO Servers which will then process it in real time. Upon non-payment of bills, the computer system can remotely shut off the meter without anyone having to leave the DISCO office. This will eliminate any role of linemen and eliminate human errors in meter reading resulting in faulty readings, billing based on averages due to non-availability of meter readings, corrupt practices by linemen, billing errors etc. as this whole process will be carried out by state of art technology. Similarly, due to this automation and use of smart meters, electricity theft will be eliminated as these meters will be capable of detecting any tempering with it and reporting it to DISCO Head office servers in real time.
This smart metering will identify exact location where pilferage is occurring as it is happening and will help in load management. This can revolutionize Power and Gas (Energy) Sector and cut its leakages, pilferage and losses which are running in Billions of Dollars. Consumers will be able to check their meter reading in real time on their cell phones and monitor their energy consumption and thus managing their budgets. On the other hand, the government will have critical real time DATA available on all the utility consumers which is instrumental for any planning, budgeting, management and application of tariffs based on peak consumption patterns. Same project has been implemented in Uzbekistan by installing 1.4 Million electric smart meters which have increased manifold billing and monitoring system.
This metering system will also be able to cover Natural Gas as gas meters are installed within 5 to 10 feet of Electricity meters in any residential premises and they will send gas readings through these Electricity meters. Government can launch in LESCO whose technical bidding not finalized yet after seeing the fate of project IESCO. Government can complete this project in IESCO and LESCO by 2023 if it can start within six months through utilizing full 400 Million Dollar ADB loan. But unfortunately, like previous governments, present govt is not executing this project due to very powerful mafia which is behind this Electric/ Gas theft and uncontrollable losses and vested interests of various players in power sector.
