Switching on India’s Smart Electric Future – Smart Meters in India
Context:
- India will soon have a smart transmission system incorporating features that can improve efficiency, disaster preparedness, etc. India is supporting this initiative through a results-linked grant-cum-financing to help power distribution companies (discoms) become financially sound and efficient to deliver better services to consumers.
Smart Meters:
- Advanced meter devices having the capacity to collect information about energy, water, and gas usage at various intervals and transmitting the data through fixed communication networks to utility, as well as receiving information like pricing signals from utility and conveying it to consumers.
Significance of Smart meters:
- It is the future where electricity meter becomes the adviser on all things electricity.
- It tells about the electricity use during different times of the day, months and seasons.
- It notifies about changes in power tariffs so that you plan your activities during low-tariff periods.
- It points out to appliances that are using more electricity than they should, and suggests options to replace them with new, efficient ones.
- It will have Greater resilience against natural disasters and cyber-attacks.
- It even allows to trade solar power directly with your peers. All this on a mobile app.
Challenges:
- High Capital Costs: A full scale deployment of smart meters requires expenditures on all hardware and software components, network infrastructure and network management software, along with costs associated with the installation and maintenance and information technology systems.
- Integration: Smart Meter must be integrated with utilities’ information technology systems, including Customer Information Systems (CIS), Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Outage Management Systems (OMS),Mobile Workforce Management (MWM), Distribution Automation System (DAS), etc.
- Standardisation: Interoperability standards need to be defined, which set uniform requirements for technology, deployment and general operations.
- Release of Radiation: Unlike the electronic meter, the smart meter allows ‘communication’ among the consumer and the meter, hence there is probability of release of radiation.
Suggestions:
- As India marches towards its vision of a financially sound and digitalised power sector through smart metering interventions, it must pursue a user-centric design and deployment strategy. Here are four suggestions on how diverse actors can step up.
- The Ministry of Power should drive a nationwide campaign to educate consumers about smart meter benefits and improve the uptake of smart meter apps.
- The apps should be accessible to users from diverse socio-economic backgrounds and provide actionable tips and information. .
- Discoms must co-own the programme and take the driving seat.
- The majority of smart meters in India are being deployed by the Advanced Metering Infrastructure Service Providers (AMISPs), responsible for installation and operation of the AMI system.
- Discoms must closely work with AMISPs to ensure a smooth installation and recharge experience for users.
- Discoms, system integrators and technology providers should collaborate to devise innovative and scalable data solutions.
- Effective use of smart meter data is fundamental to unlocking their true value proposition. .
- Policymakers and regulators must strengthen regulations to empower consumers to unlock new retail markets.
- Regulators must enable simplification and innovation in tariff design and open the retail market to new business models and prosumagers (producers, consumers, and storage users).
Conclusion:
- India is on a unique journey of meeting its growing electricity demand while decarbonising its generation sources. Smart meters comprise a critical part of the transition toolbox, by way of enabling responsible consumption, efficient energy management, and cost-effective integration of distributed energy resources. A user-centric design and deployment philosophy will be crucial for the success of India’s smart metering initiative.
