The annual volume of natural gas loss in Iran's national grid caused by gas meter fraud is close to 2 billion cubic meters that can be easily avoided by replacing traditional meters with smart counterparts, the manager of a plan to develop IT infrastructure to install smart gas meters said.
“The massive loss is not only due to human error in reading the meters but also caused by falsification of gas meters so that they do not record the actual amount of gas consumed,” Mehdi Arabzadeh Yekta was also quoted as saying by ISNA.
The National Iranian Gas Company has launched a “smart gas meter” project in collaboration with the second largest mobile operator MTN-Irancell, FANAP ICT Company, affiliated to Bank Pasargad, Ekbatan Gas Control Company and Khatam University in Tehran, he added.
The official noted that the project will take advantage of Narrow Bandwith Internet of Things.
The technology used in the project, NB-IoT, is a low-power wide area network radio technology standard that focuses on low cost, long battery life and enables firms to simultaneously monitor a large number of connected devices.
Yekta said as soon as the smart device is installed, tampering with the meter, which is effectively cheating the utility company, will be impossible as the firm will be informed about the interference immediately.
“The advanced system puts an end to the manual meter reading, which is prone to technical error and loss. Smart meters have been used in Europe and the US since 2001,” he added.
By omitting human error through the smart meter, gas, electric and water consumption can be recorded more accurately. Users are informed about their daily use and sent notifications in case of excessive consumption.
Interfering with something as explosive and flammable as natural gas poses a significant risk. While the act is perceived as a victimless crime, it can cause huge damage to the people and building involved.
What’s more, meddling with gas meters is highly dangerous as it damages the gas supply and can lead to gas leak.
Some steal energy to get cheaper bills and avoid paying for their actual usage. NIGC estimates that $15 million worth of gas are stolen each year in Iran.
Iran offers natural gas to households and businesses at highly subsidized rates, which experts blame for the illogically high level of gas consumption in the country.
Households are normally charged less than $2 per month for consuming 500 cubic meters of gas.
Aging Equipment
A report from the NIGC Dispatching Department also shows close to 30 billion cubic meters of gas are wasted in the network every year both due to aging equipment and the extensive network, 36,000 km, which are equipped with at least 100 gas pressure boosting stations that have been in use for almost three decades.
“This huge volume is 9% of the total annual gas output at 350 bcm and it is three times higher than the global average,” the company said.
Gas wastage in countries with much bigger grids than Iran, namely the US, Russia, Canada, China, Mexico and Ukraine, is about 3%.
Bahman Salehi, secretary-general of the Iranian Technical and Engineering Services Export Association, says as long as the government insists on offering subsidies, energy consumption will keep climbing.
Iran topped the list of countries subsidizing fuel in 2018, according to the International Energy Agency's latest report. Having spent $69.2 billion on energy that year, it ranked first in the world leaving behind Saudi Arabia with $44.72 billion and China $44.44 billion.
It is noteworthy that Iran has the second largest gas reserves in the world after Russia.
Salehi noted that importing gas from a northern neighboring state like Turkmenistan to Mazandaran Province makes more economic sense than producing it in Asalouyeh in the south and piping it to northern regions.
Referring to the number of gas subscribers, he noted that more than 25 million subscribers in 1,106 cities and 24,260 towns are supplied with natural gas and 75% of them [19 million] use gas within the acceptable limit [lower than 500 cubic meters per month].
“Nonetheless, six million subscribers exceed the limit and use more than 35 cubic meters of gas per day. They will be levied an additional charge, hoping that they will revise their consumption patterns,” he added.
Iran is the fourth largest gas consumer in the world after the US, China and Russia whereas its population is much less than that of those nations. That’s why NIGC officials, including managing director, Majid Chegeni, believe that a rise in tariffs for heavy consumers is the most effective short-term solution to curb consumption.
