Iran is seeking the expertise of Spanish, South Korean and Chinese companies to use smart electricity meters for the first time, managing director of Iran Energy Efficiency Organization said on Thursday.
Seyyed Hossein Sajjadi added that the pilot program includes the installation of 2,000 smart meters in Tehran, Alborz, Khorasan Razavi, Khuzestan and Bushehr provinces in the next Iranian year (starting March 20, 2016).
The official did not elaborate on how foreign firms would contribute to the project, Mehr News Agency reported.
Improved power consumption management at the time of peak demand, preventing unauthorized use of electricity and informing consumers of power tariffs during the peak hours are among the advantages of the new devices, according to Sajjadi.
Officials say Iran will join countries producing smart electricity meters in 2016. All electricity meters nationwide are slated to be upgraded to smart ones by March 2017.
A smart meter records energy consumption more accurately compared to conventional meters and sends data to the energy supplier. In addition, smart meters often come with monitors, allowing consumers to better understand energy usage.
The advanced metering infrastructure would get rid of manual meter reading, which is prone to error. Smart meters have been used in Europe and the US since 2001.
The smart meter deployment program will ultimately cover more than 32.3 million power subscribers nationwide.
According to reports, more than 650,000 new subscribers have joined the national power grid since March.
