Intelligent meters are powering change

IoT-based smart meters can be activated or deactivated remotely, much like a SIM card in a mobile phone

A simply designed booth at the exhibition of IoT India Congress in Bengaluru, offers a glimpse of how electricity management is set for a smart makeover. Manning the booth is the enthusiastic and energetic entrepreneur JT Rao. His company, winAMR,  has installed 5000 smart meters in Telangana under a national project to roll out IoT-based devices across the country. “India is at the forefront of a global movement towards using IoT for efficient power usage,” Rao says.
 
The deployment of smart, connected electricity meters could help power distribution companies reduce the losses significantly. The use of solutions based on Internet of things (IoT) has applications in the power sector that India is eagerly exploring.

 
The reason is simple. The national average for losses incurred because of transmission, distribution and a commercial leakage is about 22 per cent. In some states the figure can rise to 35-40 per cent.
 

India has about 240 million power meters that measure consumption. A few years ago when India made a transition from mechanical to electronic meters, distribution companies were able to capture power consumption in a more accurate and efficient manner. The meters were difficult to tamper with and offered better information on how power was being consumed.
 
The IoT-based meters have added a layer of intelligence in the meters that is changing the way power will be consumed. The smart meters have embedded software and has data connectivity built into it. The meter can now send and receive information about itself regularly and rapidly to the distribution company.

 
The new IoT meter can now be monitored in real time by the power provider. Apart from a ready flow of consumption data, the smart meter has other useful features. Any attempt to tamper with it triggers alerts to the company. Earlier only a physical inspection would reveal tampering. Since the meter is capable of two way data flow, the company can send instruction to the meter. This means the meter can be activated or deactivated remotely, much like a SIM card in a mobile phone. This is a big advantage for companies that need large ground force and face aggressive users who don’t want their meters to be inspected.

 
So if a user has not paid the bills or tampered with it, the company can switch off the power connection without physically being at the spot.
 
Another big advantage is updating of power charges. In a smart grid, power rates can be changed based on peak demand. With a connected device, there could be frequent and regular updates for calculating price of power being consumed. And finally, the sensors in the meter can send information about malfunction to enable predictive maintenance.
 
Alerts from the meter can help the company in identifying patterns that could be leading to a short circuit for instance.

 
The government has a national plan for roll-out of such meters even as some companies are offering retro-fit models of such meters. So instead of replacing all the meters, a new device can be attached to an old meter as an interim measure.
 
Though the implementation of the roll-out has faced criticism for its slow pace, early projects in various parts of the country have offered encouraging results. So far, only a few thousand meters have been installed, but soon the number could be in millions.
 
The Ministry of Power and government company Energy Efficiency Services Limited are helping state governments and power companies under the national campaign. Distribution companies will need time to reorganise their processes and systems to be in sync with the rising use of smart meters.