Iesco set to shift Rawalpindi consumers to AMI system

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) after establishing the first-ever data centre of Pakistan for Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) in Islamabad, will transfer Rawalpindi City Circle, Cantt Circle, all industrial tariff consumers, and high-loss making feeders to AMI metering to manage the power distribution and billing recoveries.

Last month, the federal minister for energy (Power Division), Engineer Khurram Dastgir inaugurated the construction of a data centre for AMI at Iesco, Islamabad. The project is under construction, and in the second phase, Rawalpindi City Circle, Rawalpindi Cantt Circle, all industrial tariff consumers, and high-loss making feeders will be transferred to the AMI system, a company official told The News. A backup data centre will be set up in Gujar Khan to deal with any emergency.

The new system would help eliminate power theft, bring more improvement in electricity delivery and obtain accurate data to benefit both the company and consumers. Automated 100 per cent accurate and timely meter readings will reduce costs incurred on meter readings significantly. In case of any power theft, tripping, power failure, or defective meters, automated intimation will be received in the data centre with instructions to the concerned SDO for rectification in a short time.

Interestingly, consumers will be able to control their electricity bills by monitoring their electricity consumption daily through a mobile application. Round-the-clock monitoring of load on meters and transformers from the data centre will be ensured a significant cut in the burning rate of transformers, meters, and the operational costs of the organization.

After the new automated system, the bill recoveries would increase, and those not paying their bills would automatically get disconnected.