AEM’s smart meters factory in Timisoara works at maximum speed: Romanian and foreign companies have placed orders for more than two million meters a year. Solely Enel’s electricity distribution companies will install over 150.000 smart meters in the regions where they operate in Romania – Muntenia Sud, Dobrogea and Banat in 2017, based on the approval by the National Regulatory Authority for Energy (ANRE) of the third pilot project to install smart meters.
These are provided by AEM, the Timisoara manufacturer. “We have already provided about 400.000 meters for Enel in the past two years”, says Olimpia Moica, general manager and chairman of the AEM directorate. “We can also make smart gas meters”, said Moica.
The new Enel project, as well as the previous one, based on which 140.000 smart meters have already been installed, are part of the company’s medium-term strategy of installing smart meters for their entire 2.8 million customer base in Romania.
“The data that the meters store is very useful for the market. Everything comes from a customer’s need”, says Emil Constantinescu, project manager for smart meters of E-Distributie. Customers included in the third pilot project will benefit from remote meter readings replacing field readings and consumption estimates. Smart meters can communicate in real-time with the distributor, allowing easier identification of network failures so that the company can intervene more quickly and efficiently, improving the quality of networks and services.
Customers in Romania do not pay the cost of the meter, which is the responsibility of the distributor. This cost is considered an investment, based on the approval of the energy regulator (ANRE).
“We are a highly regulated industry. Everything is done with approvals, everything is strict, and a manufacturer like AEM is checked very carefully”, he says. “Such devices help us to demonstrate whether there is a need to replace equipment such as transformers eliminating any doubt about consumption. Suppliers will provide customers with detailed information on how to consume and how this happens, including in real time, on any mobile terminal”, says Constantinescu.
AEM officials also argue that all meters are checked continuously on all parameters without the possibility of selling products with errors.
The E-Distributie companies have launched the third pilot project that is part of Enel’s long-term strategy of installing smart meters for 2.8 million customers in Romania. In 2017, Enel will allocate 139 million euros to invest in distribution operations, and in 2018 the planned investments will reach 168 million euros. By the end of 2017, approximately 300.000 customers of the E-Distributie companies will be benefiting from smart metering.
“We will strictly adhere to the commitment to permanently bring new technologies to Romania and to use our international expertise to significantly improve the quality of the local network, because we believe in a more flexible and more efficient long-term energy system based upon technological innovation and customer orientated approach, “says Georgios Stassis, country manager of Enel Romania.
“The digital transformation that the smart meters bring places the consumer at the center of our concerns, offering customers an enhanced experience: access to real-time data, the ability to monitor energy consumption, billing based on exact consumption, and most important the continuity of service and faster remote restoration of the service in case of malfunctions.”
E-Distributie Muntenia will operate approximately 70.000 smart meters covering important areas in Bucharest and Ilfov. In Ilfov, customers in Buftea, Mogosoaia and Chitila are included in the project.
E-Distributie Dobrogea will install approximately 40.000 smart meters in both urban and rural areas. E-Distributie Banat will install meters with new technology for over 40.000 urban and rural clients in the counties of Arad, Caras-Severin, Hunedoara and Timis.
The total investments made for the expansion and modernization of the networks managed by the E-Distributie companies in Romania during the period 2005-2016 amounted to 1.584 billion euros. For 2017, Enel plans to invest 151,5 million euros in Romania, out of which 139 million euros will be allocated exclusively to distribution operations. For 2018, planned investments will be even higher, reaching 178 million euros, out of which 168 million euros will be intended to improve network performance.
About the smart meter
The smart meters are connected to the dispatcher so that a bidirectional communication flow can be made at any time, remotely and automatically.
Installing these devices that can be operated remotely will provide to customers a wide range of benefits. Smart metering will allow you to remotely read power consumption as well as trade operations such as tariff changes, connections and disconnections, increasing customer comfort and reducing the inconvenience of visits in-site. Thus, vendors will be able to use automatic meter readings instead of billing estimates, so bills will better reflect electricity consumption.
In addition, customers will be able to access detailed and up-to-date information about their energy consumption. This real-time monitoring will allow them to adequately plan their energy consumption. Smart meters collect data on the quality of electricity supply by monitoring real-time service continuity, by reporting network failures or faults and locating possible anomalies caused by uncontrolled power consumption.
Looking to the future, a fully-fledged smart metering system can improve service quality by enabling real-time interventions and faster recovery of defective services, as well as introduction of flexible tariff structures. Daily, weekly, monthly or even seasonal tariffs along with flexible charging periods will allow to expand the current range of options that provide monthly or quarterly billing.
A smart metering system integrated with an advanced smart grid system can offer a number of advanced services such as: active involvement of consumers, who are also small energy producers and who can decide when to consume the renewable energy they make, how and when to distribute this energy in the grid, smart vehicle charging infrastructure that connects vehicle consumption with its owner’s power supply contract, and innovative home automation solutions that allow remote control of various devices in the home and optimization of electricity consumption.
