Enel boosts investments on smart metering network expansion

Smart meters are an essential equipment for the development of smart grids. Operating an electrical grid where most of the old meters have been replaced by new generation equipment comes with a lot of advantages for energy suppliers and distributors that can integrate new technologies and innovations across the power grid, as well as for the final consumers in terms of cost efficiency. On the other hand, it can improve energy conservation, and integrate the supply of renewable energy options in order to tackle climate change and protect the environment.

Smart meters can redefine the supplier’s role for its customers, becoming more of an energy advisor. For customers, it can drive down costs, provide transparency and flexible pricing. In terms of the benefits, consumption is more accurately measured while human errors on reading and billing the consumption are also avoided.  Another user benefit is the possibility to monitor the consumption through Internet of Things applications. Soon, Romanian customers as well will benefit from flexible hourly rates, when it is most convenient to program the washing machine or to charge their electric car.

Smart meters allow the transmission of information to the dispatcher of the electricity distributor; therefore, the network failures can be identified much more easily and the interventions in case of damage can be performed faster and more efficiently. Customers also save time, because changing suppliers, the connections, disconnections, the closing or the transfer of the contract will be carried out remotely.

All of Enel customers could have smart meters installed on the medium turn

Present on the Romanian market since 2005, Enel is one of the largest private investors in the energy field that also operates the most advanced investment program for smart meters installation. In the medium term, Enel Group wants to install smart meters for the entire portfolio of 2.9 million customers in Romania.

E-Distribuție companies, the energy distribution division of Enel in Romania, operate grids with a total length of about 128,000 kilometers in three major areas of the country: Muntenia Sud (including Bucharest), Banat and Dobrogea, covering one third of the local distribution market.

The three distribution companies, E-Distribuție Muntenia, E-Distribuție Dobrogea and E-Distribuție Banat are developing an investment program to improve quality of services, safety and network performance and local implementation of environmental standards of the Enel group.

For 2019, they have undergone an investment program of 53 million lei for installing over 171,000 smart meters for customers in their areas of activity. Therefore, by the end of the year, over 671,000 customers will benefit from smart metering systems.

As a result of investing in upgrading its network and equipment, the quality of the services has been significantly improved, the E-Distribuție companies being among the most performing electricity distribution operators in Romania.

According to the official reports of ANRE for 2018, the System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) index for E-Distribuție Muntenia was 138 minutes, the best performing in the country, the national average being 224.1 minutes. E-Distribuție Dobrogea and Banat also had better performances than the national average, with the SAIDI index of 188.8 minutes, and 214.7 minutes respectively.

For more information on the advantages of smart meter technology, please follow this link.

(P)