Electric utility CEM said in a statement yesterday that it had installed over 100,000 smart meters as of last month, covering customers such as residential, commercial and industrial customers.
The smart meters account for nearly 40 percent of the total number of customers and among them, 60 percent of the smart meters have completed “automated remote meter reading tests” and are used for metering and billing, the statement noted.
The statement pointed out that CEM will also install smart meters in 2,200 customer substations across the city “for closer load monitoring of the low-voltage power supply network”. Moreover, the statement said that the smart meters’ use can enable CEM to utilise big data to “optimise power grid management, enable proactive outage notification [and] instant monitoring of abnormal power consumption”, among others.
The statement pointed out that smart meters’ use has been highlighted during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as it reduced field staff’s infection risk, reduced power consumption estimation and issued bills based on actual electricity consumption readings.
CEM, according to the statement, is studying real-time data’s use to simplify service processes, such as enabling the power supply service remotely, with hopes of reducing time needed for processing and provide convenient customer service experiences. The time needed for meter installation application will be “significantly shortened” from three working days to within the same day in the future, the statement added.
The company pledged to continue efforts to promote the replacement of smart meters and cover the entire city by 2025 “to help develop an efficient smart city”.
This undated handout photo provided by CEM yesterday shows its newly installed smart meters.
