Nghe An Electricity Company: Installing remote electronic meters to create transparency and convenience for customers

In particular, the implementation of replacing the mechanical meter system with electronic meters and remote measuring system to make the exploitation and operation of the electricity distribution system transparent and automated, and improve customer service has received special attention from the Company's leaders.

For the type of remote electronic meter, in addition to the function of supporting Electricity staff to read remotely, control current, voltage and capacity at each time, customers can monitor their own electricity consumption and costs calculated on the electricity bill via the internet and add notifications of power outages when there are errors, incidents... Therefore, when replacing mechanical meters with remote electronic meters, it has brought many practical benefits to customers and businesses.

Vinh City Electricity workers change mechanical meters to electronic meters. Photo: Phan Thuy

Currently,Nghe An Electricity Companyis managing and providing direct electricity services to more than 1 million electricity customers in the whole province. With the characteristics of Nghe An province having the largest area in the country, diverse and complex terrain, and a large number of customers scattered in rural and mountainous areas, this is a major obstacle to the implementation of replacing mechanical meters with remote electronic meters of PC Nghe An.

As of November 2021, the Company has replaced about 650,000 electronic meters, of which more than 400,000 electronic meters have remote measurement function. The goal is that by the end of 2021, the Company will replace about 700,000 electronic meters, of which 500,000 electronic meters have remote measurement function.

To complete that task, right from the first months of the year, the Company's Board of Directors has made a detailed plan, assigned specific tasks to specialized departments and affiliated Power Companies. Step by step, the digital transformation process is being implemented, aiming to achieve the goal of a smart grid system, meeting the increasingly high demands of electricity customer care services.

Mr. Le Nam Hung, Head of Business Department, PC Nghe An said: “The program to modernize the electricity metering infrastructure is a very important part of the smart grid development roadmap of PC Nghe An. The application of remote electronic meters has helped PC Nghe An to be transparent in recording monthly meter readings. Accordingly, units can provide electricity consumption indexes according to customers' requests at any time. The electronic meter system reads the indexes remotely accurately and modernly, thus contributing to reducing the rate of electricity loss. The application of remote measurement technology also helps to change the management and operation of the power grid significantly. In particular, the effectiveness of electronic meters limits the number of workers recording indexes on the grid, reduces the risk of occupational accidents, contributes to increasing labor productivity and is very suitable for the current situation of fighting the Covid-19 epidemic. Remotely collected meter data also promptly serves the calculation of electricity bills, monitoring, power quality, and operating status. of transformer stations and lines to help improve grid safety. Bring customers the best service".

It can be said that using remote electronic meters has many advantages, electronic meters have allowable errors according to standards with higher accuracy than mechanical meters, capable of calculating even the smallest amount of electricity such as LED lights, TV standby lights, night lights, phone chargers...., meanwhile, the habit of electricity customers is often to turn off electrical devices by remote control, when these electrical devices are still in standby mode, so they still consume a part of electricity. From the above reality, Nghe An Electricity Company has propagated to customers to understand, encourage and create habits for electricity consumers to be conscious of saving even the smallest capacity electrical devices, avoiding wasting electricity.

Phan Thuy-Duc Dung