The wave of smart metering is also approaching your home. If you live in an area where a distribution company from the Enel group operates, you can check, street by street, how close are the perimeters where smart meters have been or will be installed. To enjoy all the benefits of smart metering it is not enough that the equipment is part of a smart metering system that actively communicates with the central system. It is also needed that you understand exactly how it works and what information your smart meter sends to you.

The most important visible components are located at the top of the smart meter: the display screen, the display scroll and reset button, the consumption indicator. On the display are presented automatically values related to:

• Time and date
• Maximum power absorbed
• Total active energy consumed
• Active energy consumed in the night time zone
• Active energy consumed in the daytime zone
• Maximum power produced
• Total active energy produced
• Reactive energy consumed
• Reactive energy produced

As an electrical appliance, the smart meter complies with all Romanian and intra-community environmental norms and requirements. The meter is CE marked and is accompanied by the certificate of conformity (according to the provisions of article 5 of DG no. 1022/2002), which certifies that the product does not endanger life, health, safety at work and does not have a negative impact on the environment.

DOWNLOAD The Enel Smart Meter User Manual (in RO)

The smart meter includes a relay that allows disconnection of the place of consumption by the personnel of the distributor or remotely. If your smart meter went off supply, this may be due to

• An incident on the electrical network or on the installation at the place of consumption What you need to do is first check your inside installation – see if the protections at the entrance of the house have triggered and, if so, reset them and you should you have current again.
• Triggering the internal relay of the meter In this case, the LED display lights up and shows the symbol __ / __. The meter is powered, but not the place of consumption. Why? Either because you significantly exceeded the contracted power, or because you delayed the payment of the energy bill to the supplier. For the first situation, you can stop the operation of some appliances in the house, which increased the power used, then you can reset the meter. If this happens often, you should contact your distribution company representative to request a power boost. If you are in the second situation, contact the electricity supplier with whom you have signed a contract.

How to reset the smart meter?

Once the reason for which the relay has been switched off has been removed, the power can be resumed by resetting the meter by one of the following methods:

1. If you have physical access to the meter, press the button next to the meter screen
2. If you do not have physical access to the meter and a general switch is installed in the house or you have a measuring and protection block, execute the power switching maneuver for a minimum of 3 seconds followed by the power resumption.
3. In any other situation than the above, perform the maneuver of opening all the fuses from the entrance to the house for a minimum of 3 seconds, followed by the maneuver of closing them.

The benefits of smart meter

Consumption is automatically read, securely and error-free, which allows the supplier to bill the actual consumption, not the estimated one.

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!

Use energy resources to their full potential, facilitating commercial operations related to contracting services and supplying electricity, as well as choosing the right rates

Measure the energy produced separately. The two-way metering function of the smart meter allows easy integration of distributed generation units, producers and prosumers. For business customers, the possibility of defining the complex and personalized tariffs that allow to reduce the costs in correspondence with the evolution of the energy price in the energy trading market opens.

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. 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.