By the end of the current Iranian year (March 2024), 2 million high-consuming subscribers will be equipped with smart electricity meters, with priority given to commercial, household and agricultural subscribers, director general of New Technologies Office at Iran Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company (Tavanir) said.
“Last year, 1.3 million smart meters were installed and the project has gained momentum now,” Hamed Ahmadi was also quoted as saying by Barq News.
“All industrial, administrative and agricultural subscribers will be equipped with smart meters in two years,” he added.
The initiative is part of the plan to install 4.5 million smart meters for high-consuming subscribers.
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.
High-consuming subscribers use more than 450 kWh of electricity per month.
One of the benefits of using smart meters is that these devices automatically record electricity use and electronically report that information to the utility company at regular intervals. These meters provide secure data that can show peak usage and prevent outages.
To complete the second phase of the National Smart Metering Program, a contract has been signed by the government-affiliated Tavanir with SATKAB, a subsidiary of the Energy Ministry, which is making progress.
SATKAB specializes in providing investment and consultation to water, power and wastewater industries.
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 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.
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.
Thanks to the new gadgets, consumers are informed about daily use so they could adjust their consumption. Utilities in many developed and developing countries are promoting such meters for economic and environmental reasons, especially to reduce cost and consumption.
Of the total 38 million meters in the country, 20 million are digital, of which over 1.5 million are smart and the rest are old meters that are being replaced gradually.
