The Smart Metering Program (known as Faham in Persian) aimed at digitizing the national power grid and provide subscribers with detailed feedback regarding electricity use, helped save 1,000 megawatts and 3,000 MW in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
The plan is underway and 400,000 energy-intensive agricultural, housing and commercial units have (smart electricity) meters since 2014.
So far 100,000 agro-wells have been equipped with the new system.
Utilities in the developed and developing countries are promoting modern electricity meters for economic and environmental reasons, namely to reduce cost and consumption.
Five million energy-intensive units will be equipped with the smart meters over five years following an agreement signed between the government-affiliated Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company (Tavanir) and SATKAB, a subsidiary of the Energy Ministry.
The news agency said the contract entails production and installation of five million smart meters in the agro, industrial, commercial and household sectors by 2023. The company is obliged to deliver 100,000 meters in two months.
The agriculture sector will have priority because placing the new system on wells will help the Ministry efficiently monitor water use.
SATKAB provides investment and consultancy to water, power and wastewater industries.
Conservationists and economic experts say that programs like Faham are temporary solutions to cut consumption and much more needs to be done to reduce energy demand.
"We need a complete paradigm shift to encourage consumers to change their [high] consumption patterns," Hadi Modaqeq, the plan’s (Faham) director said, noting that spreading awareness is good but not enough.
Energy is subsidized in Iran and it is largely for this reason that it is one of the most energy inefficient countries. Energy intensity of 80 million people is three times higher than the global average and 2.5 times the Middle East average.
Smart meters are a new generation of connected electricity meters linking homes to municipalities and utilities in order to measure and monitor power usage. The system can support various aspects of electricity distribution management, consumption monitoring and electricity billing.
