Islamabad: As part of its Digitization and Upgrading Programme, Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) plans to replace all advanced meters with advance metering infrastructure (AMI) by 2030 to ensure accurate meter readings from existing old meters. , bills, power theft control and load shedding mitigation.
Briefing the media on Thursday, IESCO Chief Executive Dr Muhammad Amjad said that there are now about 3.8 million in six circles covering Rawalpindi city, Rawalpindi city, Islamabad, Chakwal, Jhelum and Attock and some districts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir said that there is one consumer. “By 2030, all connections (3.8 million) will be replaced by AMI meters.”
However, the IESCO chairman said that in the first phase, around 1.2 million connections in Rawalpindi Cantt Circle, Rawalpindi City Circle and Taxila were replaced with AMI meters. The company has now installed more than 42,000,000 meters in various areas of Rawalpindi.
He said that this meter was installed in Gulzar Quaid, Jalan Dr. Abdul Qadir, Gangal, Kana and Westridge area.
Currently, PWD is installing AMI meters in Korag town and the process of installing these meters in Media town and nearby areas will be completed in July and August, he added.
According to him, in the first phase, the plan will be to build 1.2 million AMI meters in Rawalpindi city ring, Rawalpindi cantonment ring and taxila (division).
The task will be completed by June 2026, he said, and initially two contractors have been hired to build 2,000 AMI per day in the area.
Dr. Amjad said that the Asian Development Bank has provided $109 million in financial assistance to complete the project in the Second Energy Distribution Enhancement Investment Program.
The contract for the project was signed on September 3, 2022, with an effective date of January 2023.
He said that the main data and back data centers which are part of the project have been established at IESCO headquarters and Gujjar Khan respectively.
The CEO said the AMI system will permanently eliminate blackouts by continuously monitoring the transmission by monitoring the electricity meter around the clock.
The technology will help the electricity industry reduce losses, improve billing and compensation quality, monitor electricity spills, and resolve consumer complaints about incorrect or excessive billing, he said.
He said the AMI system will also eliminate human intervention in meter reading, improve customer support, better metering, more accurate billing, improve consumption monitoring and improve IESCO’s ability to reduce non-technical losses.
Automatic 100 percent accurate and timely reading will significantly reduce costs associated with meter reading, he said. In the case of electricity theft, fall, power outage or faulty meter, an automatic approach will be taken to the data center and instructions to the concerned SDO for rectification as soon as possible.
He also said that consumers can control their electricity bills by monitoring their daily electricity consumption through mobile applications.
The CEO said the system has 5 million connections and now IESCO has about 3.8 million users and still has 1 million users in the system.
