Government-affiliated Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company (Tavanir) has installed 1 million smart electricity meters in the agriculture, commercial and industrial sectors since 2018, the head of the company’s Science and Technology Department said.
“Installing each smart meter costs $50 and all subscribers in the three key sectors will be equipped with high tech devices by April,” Hadi Modaqqeq was also quoted as saying by ILNA.
Thanks to the new gadgets, consumers are informed about daily use and adjust consumption. Utilities in many developed and developing countries are promoting such meters for economic and environmental reasons, especially to reduce cost and consumption, he added.
The official noted that of the total 38 million meters in the country, 20 million are digital, of which 1 million are smart and the rest are old meters that are being replaced gradually.
Referring to the agro sector, Modaqqeq said there are 493,000 authorized wells in Iran, of which 18% are equipped with smart meters and their water extraction and power consumption can be monitored online.
According to the official, the gadget has helped reduce annual water extraction from the wells by 30% or 15 billion cubic meters because each meter has a determined extraction level per week and it will shut down automatically the moment it reaches that level.
Smart wells have sensors and valves installed downhole to allow easy and systematic monitoring.
“Close to 50 billion cubic meters of water are withdrawn from the wells across the country annually,” he said.
The injudicious use and waste of groundwater from legal and illegal wells have emerged as a major problem in Iran's struggle against the water crisis that has gotten worse over the past half century, as precipitation declines and consumption rises.
According to Modaqqeq, Tavanir installed 307,000 smart electricity meters at farms between 2018 and 2019 in the first phase of the National Smart Metering Program (known by the Persian acronym Fahm).
The total number of consumers in four sectors [households, industries, agriculture and commerce] was 37,600 million in 2020, which has now experienced a 2% rise to reach 38,300 million, Mostafa Rajabi-Mashhadi, a spokesperson for Tavanir, said.
Household Subscribers
Giving a breakdown, he said household subscribers witnessed the biggest increase (475,000 new meters) and reached 30.4 million, up 7% compared to 2020 when the figure stood at 30.2 million.
There were about 480,000 electricity meters in the agro sector last year, which has now risen by 3%, meaning 14,000 new subscribers have been added to the key sector.
The number of consumers in the commercial sector has also experienced a rise of 4%. In other words, 202,000 new users have been added, increasing the number of subscribers in the commercial sector to 5.1 million.
Industrial consumers have increased from 1.7 million to 1.9 million.
The spokesman noted that Tavanir has started to charge subscribers based on their consumption level, as per the new scheme that took effect on Jan. 20.
“Under the new pricing scheme, subscribers who consume less than 300 kilowatts-hour per month pay much less than the bill paid by those using more than 450 kWh per month,” he said.
“Before Jan. 20, power was sold at 1,000 rials [0.5 cents] per kWh to those whose consumption is maximum 300 kilowatts per month and those using 300-600 kWh were levied 16% more than the previous category [0.58 cents per kWh]. And consumers that use more than 600 kWh per month were charged 8,000 rials [4 cents] per kWh.”
“As per the new plan, those who consume up to 300 kWh per month will be charged as before, but if consumption stands between 300 kWh and 450 kWh, subscribers will be charged 6,000 rials [3 cents] per kWh. Subscribers whose consumption level stands at 450-600 kWh are expected to be levied 5 cents per kWh. If consumption exceeds 600 kWh, consumers will have to pay 7 cents per kWh.”
