Latest update November 8th, 2024 1:00 AM
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‘Smart’ meters introduced to target electricity theft
In an effort to reduce the growing number of electricity theft, the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL), has introduced the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system.
Deputy GPL CEO, Aeshwar Deonarine
During an interview with reporters yesterday, Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Aeshwar Deonarine said that this “smart” technology will be installed around the city business hub for now.
The first phase of the AMI project will see approximately 2,000 smart meters being installed, and is expected to eventually be implemented countrywide.
This Project is financed under a loan agreement with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and facilitated by the Government of Guyana.
Deonarine said that this initiative will serve as a platform to eliminate manual meter reading, while providing remote monitoring of the electric distribution system, and enabling customers to manage their bills by tracking their consumption and demand via the internet.
“Inaccuracies of meter reading will be gone,” Deonarine stressed.
He explained that should customers attempt to tamper with the new meter, a motion sensor will be triggered, alerting the company of any illegal activities.
These “smart” meters have an automatic disconnect switch, and as such, with the press of a button, persons’ services will be disconnected. Upon reconnection, the meter will recognize this, and a message will be sent to the company, which will then reactivate the service.
The GPL official admitted that electricity theft continues to be a persistent problem for the company and its predecessor.
This, Deonarine said remains a huge challenge with the company losing on two fronts – where persons who are not customers tap into the network while some customers would bypass the meter or tamper with it.
In addition, the existing meters which are attached to private properties will be removed and placed on the utility poles, so as to further ensure compliance before the AMI becomes fully operational countrywide.
“The meters will be on the poles, so it becomes harder for customers to tamper with them, so it will further reduce the numbers of electricity theft.”
The GPL official said that with more than 170, 000 customers, there is a “mad rush for meters” during the Christmas season.
To address this demand, orders have been placed for additional devices. These, which include 18,000 prepaid meters, are expected to arrive later this month.
These meters were taken off of several residences on Charlotte Street, Georgetown, and placed on this nearby utility pole.
“The prepaid meters escalated to a level we never expected, so the demand for it far exceeded what we had anticipated when we had ordered.”
The arrival of the meters is expected to further bolster the strides of GPL to reduce the impact of electricity theft.
Kaieteur News was told that the incidence of theft among new customers have reduced because of the advent of prepaid meters.
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