Double benefits from digital transformation of electricity metering system

In recent times, Dak Lak Power Company (PC Dak Lak) has promoted the application of digital transformation in the electricity metering system by installing electronic meters to replace mechanical meters. Thereby, not only improving production and business efficiency but also bringing many practical benefits to electricity customers.

Since 2017, PC Dak Lak has deployed the installation of 1-phase and 3-phase electronic meters using RF (radio wave) communication technology to each customer's household in the province. This type of meter integrates a large IC, has the ability to transmit intelligent data, high accuracy and has the ability to emit LED warnings when detecting problems such as incorrect wiring or abnormalities in electricity consumption.

Dak Lak Electricity Testing Center staff conducts metering system inspection.

Unlike mechanical meters that must be recorded manually, electronic meters allow data to be transmitted to the server via an intermediate memory, helping electricity industry employees easily monitor output, electricity usage, and bill quickly and accurately. In particular, electronic meters have the ability to prevent fraud, warn of incidents in a timely manner, reduce the risk of fire and explosion, and ensure safety for both customers and operators.

Mr. Doan Ngoc Dung, Head of the Electricity Management Team of the South Buon Ma Thuot area, said that the unit is currently managing 64,523 customers with 100% electronic meters. The use of electronic meters helps to significantly reduce the number of people who record electricity indexes and prevent power loss. Along with that, electronic meters always operate stably, the rate of fire and damage is low, the index recording by data transmission to the server is fast, the rate reaches more than 99%, reducing the number of people compared to the traditional method. If in the past, two workers could only record about 500 mechanical meters per day, now with electronic meters, only a few employees can complete the billing for thousands of customers in a short time. Not only saving manpower, remote measurement also shortens the billing time, improves accuracy and quickly meets management requirements.

In addition to installing electronic meters, PC Dak Lak has also applied the "Customer Care App - EVNCPC CSKH", "Customer Care Website" allowing each customer to have an electricity usage code, email address, and login phone number to look up electricity usage information, notifications from the investment meter index period to the time of access to know how much electricity is being used and temporarily calculate the amount corresponding to the electricity usage index. At the same time, the Company has added a reference tool for customers about the electricity usage in the same period last year. When customers look up, they will be provided with transparent information about the meter index, usage time, usage output and the amount customers will have to pay to the electricity industry.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Khanh (residing in M'Duk village, Ea Kao ward) shared: "Since using electronic meters, my family no longer worries about sudden increases in electricity bills. I can monitor the amount of electricity used every day, and if I see anything unusual, I can immediately report it to the electricity company. The measuring device is accurate, public and clear, so I feel very secure."

Proactively providing tools to check output and detailed electricity index notifications not only helps customers control spending but also contributes to promoting energy saving awareness in the community.

Dak Lak electricity staff install electronic meters.

According to Mr. Nhan Ngoc Xin, Deputy Director of PC Dak Lak, converting the electricity metering system from electromagnetic to electronic is a strategic step, synchronized with the process of modernizing the transmission and distribution grid. Electronic meters have higher accuracy, the power consumption of the meter itself is low, leading to energy savings, integrating communication technologies to support automatic remote meter reading. Implementing remote metering helps reduce the number of workers recording electricity indexes, reducing the risk of occupational accidents in meter reading and management, while at the same time, the reading of indexes is accurate, contributing to increased labor productivity.

The outstanding advantage of electronic meters is the application of information technology software, electronic meters have contributed to transparency in electricity business for the electricity industry. The installation and use of electronic meters also meet the roadmap for building a smart grid, contributing to thoroughly solving the problem of collecting, managing measurement data and automating and modernizing the information system to serve customers.

Data from remote meters not only serves the electricity industry in calculating bills, monitoring the operating status of the grid, detecting problems early, preventing electricity fraud and optimizing system operations, but also helps customers monitor their household's hourly electricity consumption index so that they can proactively adjust their electricity usage to save and be efficient. This is an important foundation for building a smart grid, contributing to the modernization of Vietnam's electricity industry.

Up to now, PC Dak Lak has completed the installation of 100% of electronic meters for more than 940,000 customers. The RF-Spider data collection system has been deployed synchronously, helping to fully automate the measurement process and transmit data to the control center. Reading, invoicing and processing customer information are now all done through specialized software, rich in utilities and highly accurate.

PC Dak Lak will continue to promote the deployment and completion of the installation of the Spider-GIS system. This is a GIS system combined with the RF-Spider system to provide real-time grid information and allow visual display of the grid diagram to each transformer station, manage customers to the foot of the power pole, thereby making it easier to search for customers, information, addresses, indexes, output, and customer measurement point parameters for each pole.

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/thoi-su/202508/loi-ich-kep-tu-chuyen-doi-so-he-thong-do-dem-dien-052383e/