Smart meters will replace traditional electricity meters: what will the process look like

Colombians will have to bear the cost of implementing the new energy infrastructure

As part of the energy transition process that began with Law 1715 of 2014, a new measure will be taken that affects all Colombian households. The Government will implement an advanced measurement infrastructure (AMI). This means that the change of the old light meters in homes will be made. It is important to mention that it is a project that has been planned since 2020, but until two years later the final order was given for the transition to take place.

According to the Ministry of Energy and Mines, the new energy measurement devices bring with them the merger of communication systems and technological advances with the traditional function of the meter: “It allows two-way communication with users of the electricity service. This infrastructure integrates hardware (advanced meters, measurement management centers, routers, concentrators, antennas, etc.), software, architectures and communications networks, which allow the operation of the infrastructure and the management of the data of the electric power distribution system and the systems for measuring the consumption of energy”.

As this is an important advance and update in the country, the Government points out that this will bring some benefits such as: facilitating the reading of consumption, since it will be done remotely; it improves the relationship and communication with users; facilitating the collection of information on the status of the distribution and identification network of failures; contribute to improving the quality of service indexes in the distribution network, since they will be remotely; facilitate the processes of cutting and reconnecting users, and the reduction of non-technical losses due to fraud and manipulation of meters.

Since every process has a cost, it would have to be borne by the consumer. In other words, households that make the change must pay the purchase and installation value of the advanced meter and the network operator has the duty to hand over the traditional meter that it uninstalls to the user who is listed as the owner of the associated service.

In the meantime, the energy company must inform consumers, three months in advance, that this process must be carried out. There are two options, the person can make all the change on their own or ask the company to carry out the process. But if after the two months the customer has not made a statement about it, the announced replacement will be carried out by the network operator and the user must bear the cost. In this specific case, the social stratum will not influence but the law applies in the same way to everyone.

It should be noted that this will not affect what is related to billing, it will only make the measurement process faster: “The implementation of smart meters, the measurement will be read remotely, that is, without the need for any technical personnel to do a face-to-face reading of energy consumption data. Physical invoices will continue to exist unless the user accepts that it arrives digitally,” said the Ministry.

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