E-Distributie companies to exceed the threshold of one million smart meters in 2021

E-Distributie companies, part of the Enel group, continue the grid digitalization process by installing another 160,700 smart meters this year, for an investment worth over 57 million RON. By the end of the year, E-Distributie will reach a total number of over 1,090,000 smart meters installed, after total investments of almost 300 million RON between 2015 and 2021.

“Without digitalized and resilient distribution grids, which benefit from the latest technologies, it is difficult to achieve the decarbonisation and electrification targets, two essential elements for the transition to a sustainable economy and a protected environment. To this purpose, we are accelerating the digitalization processes with the help of smart meters and we are increasing the investments in modernizing the Romanian grids, to the benefit of E-Distributie customers and to improve our services. This way, more people will benefit from the advantages of smart meters, allowing remote meter readings, giving customers greater insight into their real energy consumption profile, and promoting their active participation in the evolving energy market”, said Monica Hodor, general manager of E-Distributie Banat, E-Distributie Dobrogea and E-Distributie Muntenia.

Altogether, the E-Distributie companies have the largest number of smart meters installed so far in Romania, almost 930,000. With their help, end users can have access to their consumption data, having a better control over their electricity consumption and, consequently, the possibility to save electricity. In addition, smart meters provide information that reduces the time of interventions, as some manoeuvres can be done remotely.

Prosumers, consumers who produce electricity from renewable sources, can measure separately the energy produced. Whether we are talking about wind turbines or solar panels, the smart meter will measure separately the energy that a consumer delivers into the grid and the energy he absorbs from the grid. The consumer will know exactly when he consumes energy from the grid and when he consumes the renewable energy he produces.

The smart meter rollout program is carried out according to the plan approved by the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE). Within the program, between 2015 and 2020, almost 930,000 E-Distributie customers changed the classic meters with smart ones while 45 localities in Ilfov, Giurgiu, Constanța, Tulcea, Călărași, Timiș, Arad and Caraș-Severin counties reached a smart meter rollout of over 90%.

For this year, E-Distributie Muntenia has planned the rollout of about 72,700 smart meters in Bucharest and Giurgiu and Ilfov counties. E-Distributie Dobrogea will install almost 40,000 smart meters in Călărași, Constanța, Ialomița and Tulcea counties, while E-Distribuţie Banat will install smart meters to about 48,200 customers in Arad, Caraș-Severin, Hunedoara and Timiș counties.