New metering system to minimise power theft
Vishal Sharma
New Delhi/ Agra Taking steps to minimise power theft by industrial consumers in Agra, UP power distribution company Dakshinanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd (DVVNL) has developed a wireless automated meter reading (AMR) system, which could make the process of manual meter reading redundant.
Developing a wireless solution by working in collaboration with Jaipur-based Genus Power Infrastructure Ltd (GPIL), DVVNL has begun the installation of wireless power meters at the premises of its industrial consumers that was expected to bring down both the meter reading costs and power thefts drastically.
Talking to Business Standard, DVVNL Managing Director Kirpal Singh said that though cases of power thefts were found more in domestic consumers, the real loss of revenue was still due to power theft in industrial units where the discom crew could not easily enter to check the meters, and by the time they reached the place where the meter was installed, the evidence of meter tampering was removed by the unit owners.
Adapting a workaround to this situation, he said, the company contacted GPIL and developed a solution to remotely monitor power meters using a radio frequency (RF) signal on a customised hand-held computer, and this data could later be fed into a server where the energy consumption profile of a particular customer could be created.
These units were designed to relay their signals for at least 100 metres away from the installation and these signals could be monitored by the discom crew to detect incidents of meter tampering, apart from taking meter readings without entering the premises of the industrial unit.
So far, he said, the company had ordered 5,000 meters to be manufactured up to its specifications and about 2,000 such meters were already undergoing field trials at various installations across the company's jurisdiction ranging from Jhansi to some parts of Kanpur.
If the new technology helps in bringing down operational costs for DVVNL, it could be implemented for domestic single phase power connections as well.
This is not the first time that the company has adapted new technology to curb power thefts in its distribution area.
It is also the first UP discom to have implemented the concept of pre-paid electricity in the dense commercial areas of the city where meter reading is a time-consuming affair for the company.
Recently, DVVNL has set up seven call centres in the town with the help of a Mumbai-based company to automatise the process of fault booking and rectification.
Developing a wireless solution by working in collaboration with Jaipur-based Genus Power Infrastructure Ltd (GPIL), DVVNL has begun the installation of wireless power meters at the premises of its industrial consumers that was expected to bring down both the meter reading costs and power thefts drastically.
Talking to Business Standard, DVVNL Managing Director Kirpal Singh said that though cases of power thefts were found more in domestic consumers, the real loss of revenue was still due to power theft in industrial units where the discom crew could not easily enter to check the meters, and by the time they reached the place where the meter was installed, the evidence of meter tampering was removed by the unit owners.
Adapting a workaround to this situation, he said, the company contacted GPIL and developed a solution to remotely monitor power meters using a radio frequency (RF) signal on a customised hand-held computer, and this data could later be fed into a server where the energy consumption profile of a particular customer could be created.
These units were designed to relay their signals for at least 100 metres away from the installation and these signals could be monitored by the discom crew to detect incidents of meter tampering, apart from taking meter readings without entering the premises of the industrial unit.
So far, he said, the company had ordered 5,000 meters to be manufactured up to its specifications and about 2,000 such meters were already undergoing field trials at various installations across the company's jurisdiction ranging from Jhansi to some parts of Kanpur.
If the new technology helps in bringing down operational costs for DVVNL, it could be implemented for domestic single phase power connections as well.
This is not the first time that the company has adapted new technology to curb power thefts in its distribution area.
It is also the first UP discom to have implemented the concept of pre-paid electricity in the dense commercial areas of the city where meter reading is a time-consuming affair for the company.
Recently, DVVNL has set up seven call centres in the town with the help of a Mumbai-based company to automatise the process of fault booking and rectification.
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