Future of metering industry lies in smart grid

Future of metering industry lies in smart grid
“Discoms have started talking about smart grid technology which is named as one of the seven technologies that may help change the world,” asserts Tushar Bhavsar, Head-IHV Sales & Strat, The Motwane Manufacturing Company
Meters play an important role in power distribution system. What is your opinion on the current status of metering in India?Among the many problems that electricity utilities are facing in distribution of electric energy fairly and collecting, in return, a fair economic price for it, the problem of metering could seem to be insignificant, given the capital outlay on it. Even today the standard rotating disk single-phase electromagnetic meters are used in many states by the distribution companies for such an installation may cost more than about 1-2 months consumption at these tariffs. An order-of-magnitude calculation shows this to be not more than Rs. 6-8 per kWH of connected load.
With present investment costs on generation alone above Rs. 50,000 per kW, investment on metering is much low in comparison with total investment, but at least for domestic consumers, large in comparison with collections. Is it worthwhile to invest on improving metering technology? The answer is yes, for a variety of reasons. The simple electromagnetic meter suffers from several problems. For one thing, it can easily collect dust which will cause friction and slow down its rotation. This may make a material difference to its recording, a difference that may persist unnoticed for several years until the slowing down is sufficient to yield absurdly low readings or cause a complete stoppage.
Secondly, the electromagnetic meter records the actual consumption only when the power factor is one, i.e. when current and voltage are in phase. If the power factor is different from one, there are heat losses in motors and induction coils as well as reactive power losses which it does not record. Thus, for example, the true power consumed by rheostat-controlled domestic fans and fluorescent lights equipped with electromagnetic chokes is hidden. These factors alone would point to the advantages of reasonably-priced electronic meters, even if they are somewhat costlier than electromagnetic meters. One can add that the case does not even need to be argued for high demand installations, including both small industries and commercial establishments. They generally pay higher tariffs besides consuming much more energy for a single meter.
There are other technical parameters that prove detrimental in using the electromechanical meters. In view of the above limitations and disadvantages of electromechanical meters, most of the distribution companies have migrated to electronic metering for almost every type of customers including residential, industrial and commercial installations. The government realised the advantages and therefore made it mandatory for the discoms to migrate to electronic metering in phased manner through the Electricity Act 2003.
Today 81 discoms are distributing 2,10,000 MW of power to customers across different categories like residential, commercial and industrial consumers. The aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses which were to the tune of 38.5 per cent during 2001 is targeted to be brought down to 15 per cent by the end of 11th Plan and metering has played a major role in achieving the same.
Where does India stand compared to developed countries in terms of metering technology?The developed countries have such complex metering systems unlike India as the objective of metering are quite different. In developed countries, power is looked upon as an integral part of life and consumers expectations are uninterrupted, quality power (free from all pollution and harmonics), correct and timely billing, ease of payments and point of payments, regular update on consumptions (daily/weekly and monthly basis), pattern of consumption during time of day, etc.

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