Macao’s electricity provider CEM had installed over 100,000 smart meters as of last month, covering residential, commercial and industrial customers.
The smart meters account for nearly 40 per cent of customers and among them, 60 per cent of the smart meters have completed “automated remote meter reading tests” and are used for metering and billing.
CEM will also install smart meters in 2,200 customer substations across the city “for closer load monitoring of the low-voltage power supply network”. The smart meters’ use enables CEM to utilise big data to “optimise power grid management, enable proactive outage notification [and] instant monitoring of abnormal power consumption”, among others.
Smart meters’ use has been highlighted during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic as it reduced field staff’s infection risk, reduced power consumption estimation and issued bills based on actual electricity consumption readings.
CEM is studying real-time data’s use to simplify service processes, such as enabling the power supply service remotely, with hopes of reducing the time needed for processing and providing convenient customer service experiences. The time needed for meter installation application will be “significantly shortened” from three working days to within the same day in the future.
The company pledged to promote the replacement of smart meters and cover the entire city by 2025 “to help develop an efficient smart city”, The Macau Post Daily reported.
