To complete the second phase of the National Smart Metering Program, a contract has been signed between government-affiliated Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company (Tavanir) and SATKAB, a subsidiary of the Energy Ministry, which is in making progress, the head of Tavanir said.
“As per the agreement, SATKAB is obliged to produce and install 4.5 million smart meters in the agro, industrial, commercial and household sectors in the next two years with priority accorded to high-consuming subscribers,” Arash Kordi was also quoted as saying by the Energy Ministry’s news service.
Equipping energy-intensive agricultural, housing and commercial units will enable Tavanir to monitor consumption remotely and if necessary, the company will be able to cut electricity supply remotely, he added.
“Even illegal cryptocurrency mining centers across Iran can be identified and disbanded much easier and faster.”
SATKAB specializes in providing investment and consultation to water, power and wastewater industries.
Kordi said in the first phase of the scheme, Tavanir built infrastructure and equipped 1 million agricultural wells with smart meters in 2021.
Equipping wells with the new system can help the ministry efficiently monitor water extraction, he added, noting that one million energy-intensive households and commercial units have been equipped with smart meters in the past three years.
Of the total number [1 million], around 700,000 were installed in the agro and industrial sectors. Households and commercial centers accounted for the rest [300,000], he added.
Farming Sector
The farming sector, with about 700,000 electricity meters, consumes about 50% of Iran’s total power generation of 60,000 megawatts per day.
“The total number of consumers in the household sector is estimated to be around 30.4 million, of which 650,000 are heavy consumers whose meters will be converted to smart ones before fall so that they can be charged more than subscribers who use within [permissible] limits,” he said.
A smart meter is a modern electricity meter that digitally sends meter readings to energy suppliers and helps users control their consumption. It also ensures accurate energy billing.
According to the Tavanir chief, the smart metering system has put a permanent end to the manual meter reading that was vulnerable to error and loss.
Utilities in many developed and developing countries are promoting advanced electricity meters for economic and environmental reasons, namely to cut costs and reduce consumption.
Kordi noted that the smart metering program offers a temporary solution to curb consumption and a lot more needs to be done to institutionalize the culture of consuming energy wisely.
"We need a complete paradigm shift to encourage consumers to change their consumption patterns," he said, adding that increasing people's awareness can be effective, but will not yield the desired result.
Due to the huge energy subsidies, Iran is one of the most energy inefficient countries with energy intensity three times higher than the global average and 2.5 times the Middle East average.
