ISLAMABAD, Nov 21 (DNA): K-Electric (KE) and the National Electric Power
Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) organized a joint session where the
publicly owned DISCO’s were briefed about KE’s journey and experience as
the first DISCO to implement Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) on
an end to end scale.

Inaugurating the event, Amer Zia, Chief Distribution Officer (CDO) KE
said: “Recently KE has made significant in-roads towards automation at
various front-end and back-end levels. AMI has been in the pipeline for
over ten years. We are very appreciative of NEPRA and all the DISCO
representatives for taking the time out to be here and learn from our
experience.”

While speaking at the joint session, Mazhar Iqbal Ranjha, Director –
NEPRA said; “Energy companies across the globe are moving towards
service automation. A move towards AMI can help introduce greater
efficiencies while also providing a better user experience for our
valued customers”.

NEPRA is continuously emphasizing on real time monitoring and that such
automated systems can be helpful in monitoring and enforcing regulatory
instruments in their true letter and spirit.

AMI system has smart meters as core devices. KE representatives briefed
the attendees about the long-term advantages associated with moving
towards AMI. This includes automated meter reading (first step towards
auto billing), power quality monitoring and load management through the
availability of timely and accurate information. AMI would also help to
enable an improved customer experience. Current challenges connected
with the implementation of AMI were also discussed, in particular
national demographics.

During the session, a brief overview of KE’s Geographical Information
System (GIS) was also given to the attendees. The audience was told
about KE GIS which enables the utility to capture and analyze
geographical data to improve asset monitoring and management.

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