India is in the midst of a frenetic rush into smart metering of electricity connections on the belief that this technology is the solution to the deep-rooted problems that bedevil the electricity distribution sector.
Thank you, Gulzar sir for your comprehensive take on smart metering in India. Few more points which make it even more difficult to achieve the full benefits and highlight requirement in change of strategy:-
Smart Meter Penetration in developed countries: You delved into the motivations behind smart metering in various regions. It's noteworthy that in many developed countries, the penetration rates for smart meters are actually much lower than one would expect, especially given their higher RE penetration rates and income levels. In fact, the problem is even more difficult there as many of the smart meters are used in the “ dumb mode”.,as a regular meter. This is because even they have not been able to build proper IT tools and applications.
Ecosystem Approach for Real-Time Use: You aptly discuss the role of government agencies and the challenges they face. To truly capitalize on real-time electricity usage data, an ecosystem approach is essential. This is especially critical given the lack of robust IT systems upstream in the value chain, which you allude to when discussing discom capabilities.It is very difficult generate insights just from the smart meter data, it only makes in context of the market data and hardware control and traceability.
Top Talent Aversion: While you touch upon the complex political economy as a challenge, another issue is that top talent is not even interested in working in this domain. This exacerbates the problems of inadequate state capacity and subpar IT applications, further complicating efforts to improve data security and functional effectiveness. There are huge regulatory risks for a small startup to take. There is a need to find a mechanism to derrick this for people to consider it worthwhile their time and effort.
Subpar IT Applications: Your concerns about the functional effectiveness of smart metering are spot-on. Most IT applications that come bundled with these meters fall far below basic standards, making it difficult to leverage their full potential. These application remind one of the early 90s webpages and user interfaces.
If all this is done well, this can be a game changer and act as a great public good and can play a very important role in energy transition, similar to the JAM revolution
Thank you, Gulzar sir for your comprehensive take on smart metering in India. Few more points which make it even more difficult to achieve the full benefits and highlight requirement in change of strategy:-
Smart Meter Penetration in developed countries: You delved into the motivations behind smart metering in various regions. It's noteworthy that in many developed countries, the penetration rates for smart meters are actually much lower than one would expect, especially given their higher RE penetration rates and income levels. In fact, the problem is even more difficult there as many of the smart meters are used in the “ dumb mode”.,as a regular meter. This is because even they have not been able to build proper IT tools and applications.
Ecosystem Approach for Real-Time Use: You aptly discuss the role of government agencies and the challenges they face. To truly capitalize on real-time electricity usage data, an ecosystem approach is essential. This is especially critical given the lack of robust IT systems upstream in the value chain, which you allude to when discussing discom capabilities.It is very difficult generate insights just from the smart meter data, it only makes in context of the market data and hardware control and traceability.
Top Talent Aversion: While you touch upon the complex political economy as a challenge, another issue is that top talent is not even interested in working in this domain. This exacerbates the problems of inadequate state capacity and subpar IT applications, further complicating efforts to improve data security and functional effectiveness. There are huge regulatory risks for a small startup to take. There is a need to find a mechanism to derrick this for people to consider it worthwhile their time and effort.
Subpar IT Applications: Your concerns about the functional effectiveness of smart metering are spot-on. Most IT applications that come bundled with these meters fall far below basic standards, making it difficult to leverage their full potential. These application remind one of the early 90s webpages and user interfaces.
If all this is done well, this can be a game changer and act as a great public good and can play a very important role in energy transition, similar to the JAM revolution
The links did not get embedded.
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/97-of-smart-meters-fail-to-provide-promised-customer-benefits-can-3b-in/632662/
https://twitter.com/NKurmayer/status/1704837309202419732?s=20
Source - https://powerbarometer.eurelectric.org/
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