IMPLEMENTATION OF AMR FOR REVENUE PROTECTION TECHNICAL PAPER

Authored by: S K DASSSR.MANAGER ENFORCEMENT NDPL.

INTRODUCTION
NDPL is the first one in India to implement AMR on such a large scale. We are having all HT CT meters and all LT CT meters being read with AMR. This technology is used by NDPL to streamline billing process and theft detection.

BILLING PROCESS-Conventional method of billing was to send a meter reader to the site where meter is installed and then that meter reader use to note the reading of the meter in a notebook / sheet provided to him by utility. He uses to bring this reading to commercial office and bills were generated after punching the reading in Computer / manual bills were calculated. After that came the era when meter reader use to go with a Hand Held Device (HHT).

He uses to punch the reading in that HHT against the connection number and the HHT were brought to commercial office and connected to computer and uploads the reading in the system. This decreased the time of punching reading one by one in the system. All the reading was uploaded in a single go. But in this process also there was a chance of mistake as the reading in HHT is punched in by reader so there was manual intervention.

This problem was then removed by downloading the data of the meter with Meter Reading Instrument (MRI). In this case an MRI is to be connected to meter and then the data stored in the memory of meter gets downloaded in MRI. This MRI is then connected to computer in commercial office and the data is transferred to base computer. So the problem of manual intervention was removed but a new problem came in picture. In case of MRI reading of meter took more time then as compared to conventional method. So man power need to be increased to complete billing cycle in stipulated time. Secondly another problem in this case was meter box if sealed need to be opened every time. This second problem was more serious as anyone can tamper with meter. So the solution was provided by AMR (Automated Meter Reading).

ANALYSIS
Analysis is one of the biggest weapons in the hand of utilities after this generation of electronic meters has been implemented. Meters have ability to record the electrical parameters of the system in its load survey as well as meter is provided with some intelligence to detect abnormal electrical conditions. All these abnormal electrical conditions are detected by meter and are stored as exception in the memory of meter.

Complete data of the meter is can be downloaded and all the exception of the meter can be studied. Then the exception can be verified as if they are because of system condition of they are created by consumer to manipulate the recording in the meter. All the problems can be identified sitting right in the office and then the cases in which there are problem can be visited with a pre-defined target as what is the problem rather than the earlier case where the site is visited first then data is downloaded and brought to office and uploaded in Computers and then analysed and after that if there is any problem which was not attended in the first visit is checked by again going to site.

Old method was more time consuming and secondly it alerts the consumer also. Along with electrical parameters there consumption is also recorded in the meter and transaction details are also available. All these parameters can be cheeked. Instantaneous parameters of the meter are the just the finger prints of meter health. Any abnormality in the meter can be checked from the instantaneous parameters of the meter. Phasor diagram clearly representation of connections of meter. All the reading in the meter can be compared with those logged in the billing system of utility and any exception can be checked. This helps in verifying the reading brought by the readers.

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