Almost 2 million electricity consumers in Romania, i.e. 20% of the total, have already installed smart meters and the replacement process is ongoing. They allow remote reading of consumption in almost real time.

But when replacing an old meter, distribution companies are required by law to notify consumers at least 10 days in advance so that they record their last reading. In addition, people should be informed about the benefits and values ​​displayed on the screen of the new meter. But in reality, this does not happen every time, and there are consumers who found themselves with new meters without knowing what they are and what the consumption index was at the time of replacement.

How many smart meters are there in Romania?

According to data provided by ANRE at the request of HotNews.ro, Romania had 1,951,735 smart meters in March of this year, representing 20% ​​of the total number of electricity consumers in the country.

The leaders in changing meters are distribution companies from the Enel group: e-Distribution Muntenia installed 564,541 smart meters, which is 39% of the total number of their customers, e-Distribution Banat – 343,754 meters (36%) and e-Distribution Dobrogea – 308 403 counters. (45%).

It is followed by Delgaz Grid from the E.ON group – 296,450 smart meters (19% of all consumers in their network) and Distributie Energie Oltenia from the CEZ Romania group – 240,194 smart meters (16%).

At the end of the list are distribution companies from the Electrica group: DEER Transilvania Nord – 83,442 (6%), DEER Muntenia Nord – 66,252 (5%) and DEER Transilvania Sud with only 48,699 installed meters, which is 4% of all consumers. connected to their network.

What are smart meters?

Meters integrated into intelligent metering systems (SMI) record and store consumption indices at 15-minute intervals and daily transfer the stored data to a central data collection, verification, storage and processing system.

In addition to consumption data, smart meters also record other indicators such as voltage, current, power and state variables that are used by distribution operators to optimize network management and operational activities.

What are the benefits of smart meters?

NARE has listed the advantages of consumers whose places of consumption are integrated into the DIP:

• elimination of the need to transfer self-reading of electricity consumption, accordingly, cancellation of invoicing based on estimated consumption values ​​and invoicing for electricity consumption based on the actual consumption recorded in the DIU;
• simplifying the procedure and shortening the period of changing the supplier;
• the possibility of entering into a supply contract with differentiated/dynamic rates – hourly, peak, off-peak, etc. – depending on the offer of suppliers;
• the possibility of uniting into aggregation structures, energy communities to participate in flexibility services, respectively, in electricity market mechanisms aimed at increasing energy efficiency;
• the ability to optimize electricity consumption by changing consumption behavior using optimization tools (for example, non-intrusive appliance load monitoring (NIALM));
• reducing the duration of power outages due to more accurate determination of the location of damage and remote disconnection/reconnection;
• the ability to access consumption data on the OD portal through direct access, based on the user account.

There is no cost to consumers. In addition, they have the right to refuse to change meters

On the other hand, when installing new meters, distribution operators are obliged to inform the users to whom the smart meters are to be installed at least 10 working days before the planned installation date through appropriate means of communication on site. consumption, such as posters, postcards, SMS, say NARE representatives.

At the same time, distribution operators are obliged to inform people about the benefits, how they work and what the values ​​displayed on the meter screen mean.

However, in practice, everything is not quite like that.

Cătălina P. is a household consumer from Bucharest who woke up with a new meter without being informed of this change as required by law.

“When I wanted to take the meter reading to send the index, as I used to do every month, I saw that I had a different meter. I didn’t know what it was, I didn’t receive any message, neither from Usually, when there are mass works on different installations or networks, it is displayed on the input, but this time nothing,” says Ketalina.

She sent a request to e-Distribuție Muntenia, the operator in the area, asking for an explanation of the new meter and the index that she had to send to the supplier.

Cătălina received a reply from e-Distribuție, but it did not contain anything about the obligation to be informed in advance, but only confirmed the change of the meter with a copy of the receipt attached.

“I think it would be okay for me to be present when the protocol is drawn up for the old index, because it contains data about the consumption that I have to pay,” she says.