With 53 million lei allocated for the installation of smart meters, the distribution companies within the Enel group will install in 2019 more than 171,000 smart meters for customers in their areas of activity. The plan is for over 671,000 customers of E-Distribution companies to take advantage from the benefits of new technologies, this year. The company offers to all those interested several interactive maps where one can discover, street by street, how close are the perimeters where smart meters have been or will be installed, for each existing or future customer.

All interested can see for each area around a transformation station the total number of meters installed, how many of the are smart and how many smart equipment are planned to be installed according to the schedule approved by the National Energy Regulatory Authority – ANRE for the period 2019-2028.

For example, in the area of Prelungirea Ghencea, from Valea Oltului to Șoseaua de Centură, in the west of Bucharest, 11 transformation stations can be identified (with green) where smart meters have been located, 15 places (in yellow) where new installations are planned beside those already in place, and 8 red dots, where the schedule of future installations is not yet available.

At national level, E-Distribuție Muntenia, E-Distribuție Dobrogea and E-Distribuție Banat, the power distribution companies in Romania within the Enel group, installed over 500,000 smart meters. For each area, the penetration rate of smart meters exceeds 20%, with the highest share (24.75%) in Dobrogea. According to the calendar approved by the regulator, the distribution operators within the Enel group will have the largest total shares of users integrated in the intelligent metering system. By the end of 2028 the penetration rate of smart meters in the E-Distribuție customer base will exceed 60%. Thus, in the case of E-Distribuție Muntenia, the company will install smart meters for 65% of its total users. E-Distribuție Dobrogea will install smart meters for 70% of its total customers, while the percentage for E-Distribuție Banat will be 60% of total consumers.

The smart meter allows an active involvement from the consumers

Experts describe smart meters as the customer interface with the “energy revolution triggered by grid digitalization”. What is this revolution and what are the benefits of the customers?

A study from June this year estimated a penetration rate of smart meters of 42% at European level for 2020. With rates close to 100%, Italy (98.5%) and Spain (93.1%) have been already in 2018 the most advanced states in the south of the continent. In northern Europe, the most advanced are the states with a small population, such as Sweden (100%), Finland (99.8%) and Estonia (98.9%).

From the experience in such countries, it has been found that a smart meter that is an integral part of a smart metering system and actively communicates with the central system, comes with many benefits.

Your consumption is automatically read and allows differentiated rates. Because sending the index is automated, secure and error-free, your provider will be able to bill the actual consumption, not the estimated one. Because the data transmission is continuous, in the not too distant future you will have a greater freedom in choosing the supply offer – you will be able to opt for flexible rates (the smart meter allows storage of 6 types of tariffs), configurable at different time intervals or days, week, month, season. In the near future, smart home appliances will be able to automatically read differentiated tariffs from the smart meter and decide on the most convenient time to start operating.

You can monitor and control your energy consumption. Information about your normal or detailed consumption is displayed quickly and permanently and can be viewed on your computer, tablet or phone to give you a clear picture of the energy consumed. You can adjust your consumption behavior to save energy!

You are protected from overvoltage and you have a better chance of a quicker reconnection if the disconnection was caused by incidents in the electricity grid, as the meter can provide useful information on the position, type and magnitude of the incidents, reducing the time for interventions.

You can measure separately the energy you produced. The two-way metering function of the smart meter allows an easy integration of distributed generation units, producers and prosumers. For business customers, the possibility of defining complex and personalized tariffs is opened, which allows to reduce the costs in correspondence with the evolution of the energy price in the energy trading market.

You save time when changing supplier. Changing the provider, connecting, disconnecting, selecting tariffs, closing or transferring the contract will be done remotely, faster and easier.