Operations to replace traditional natural gas meters with smart devices in household, commercial and industrial sectors have commenced, managing director of the state-run Iran Gas Engineering and Development Company, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Gas Company, said.
“NIGC will replace 3 million old meters with high-tech gadgets by March 2024,” Reza Noshadi was also quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news portal.
The plan is estimated to cost $4 billion and expected to help reduce annual natural gas loss in Iran's national grid by about 2 billion cubic meters, he added.
The massive loss is not only due to human error in reading the meters but also caused by falsification of gas meters.
“Smart meters have been used in England and the US since 2001,” he added.
Gas, electric and water consumption can be recorded more accurately by the smart meter. 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.
Gas Leak
Meddling with gas meters is highly dangerous, as it can lead to gas leak and disrupt gas supply. However, some manipulate the meters to steal energy 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.
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.
Gas wastage in countries with much bigger grids than Iran, namely the US, Russia, Canada, China, Mexico and Ukraine, is about 3%.
However, critics describe the vastly expensive rollout of smart energy meters as a “waste of money”, because the equipment will soon become obsolete.
Smart meters currently rely on outgoing 2G and 3G mobile signals to operate, which are expected to be discarded by mobile operators.
