Domestic companies get quarter of smart meters job

Electric Power Company of Serbia (EPS) is introducing the most advanced smart metering system in the world, chief executive officer Aleksandar Obradović (pictured first from right) said in an interview to N1 television channel. In  a procurement financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank, EUR 31.9 million was saved, he added. The allegations of Anti-Corruption Council of Serbia from April that domestic companies were blocked in the tender aren’t true, Obradović stressed, as there are five of them in the eight-member consortium that was selected for the job.

The complex integrated system will cut losses in transmission and enable the state-owned company to switch power on and off and read consumption data by remote control, head of information technologies department in EPS Velimir Šoškić said. Smart meters will be installed at households for free, he underscored. Domestic companies will be able to participate in the EUR 26.6 million deal with 25.6% worth of works, Šoškić said. The project will last for two years, and in the first year energy and communications infrastructure will be mounted. Meters are to be installed at substations, after which industrial and commercial consumers get their devices. In the second year households in five selected regions will get power meters, Serbian utility’s official said.

The first contract in the ‘EPS Metering’ project was signed on September 10 with a consortium headed by French companies Atos WorldGrid SAS and Sagemcom Energy & Telecom, EPS said. In total, 208,962 metering units will be integrated in an MDM/AMI system in the first phase, the press release adds. There will be 40,966 devices in 10(20)/0.4 kV substations, 4,343 meters at mid-voltage customers, 51,098 at commercial and industrial consumers and 112,555 at households. The first delivery is planned for November 5 this year, and the last one for September 7, 2017.