Riyadh, SPA:
Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, the Minister of Energy, said that the project of manufacturing smart electric meters locally and the localization of their technology started as an idea and a team was formed from several sides, in addition to using international experiences, whether in European or Asian countries, and taking into account the best practices in terms of services and quality in smart meters and the quality of implementation.
This came during a press conference held today on the occasion of the signing of the agreement to promote the smart electric meters industry locally and localize their technologies, stating that the replacement of old meters with smart ones contributes to providing standards of accuracy and transparency, and provides instant readings with the latest means of communication without interference by humans, thus avoiding errors.
The Minister of Energy said that the process of selecting the companies implementing the smart electric meters project and the localization of their technologies will be through the Saudi Electricity Company, under the supervision of the Electricity Regulatory Authority, the local content and government procurement authority, and the Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization.
He added that the smart meters will boost consumer confidence in the bill and will have a positive impact.
Fahd bin Hussain al-Sudairy, the Acting Saudi Electricity Company's Chief Executive Officer, said that the company has committed to reading the meters every 30 days starting from the summer of 2018.
For his part, the Governor of the Saudi Organization for Standardization, Metrology and Quality Dr. Saad bin Othman Al-Qasabi said that the role of standards is an enabling role for any industry and any service provided in the Kingdom.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Local Content and Government Procurement Commission Dr. Ghassan bin Abdurrahman Al-Shibl said that the participation of the commission in this project comes to consolidate the strategic partnership with the Ministry of Energy, and a number of partners, led by Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), as this participation represents an extension of the ongoing work with SEC as a member of the local content coordination council recently launched by the commission.
On the other hand, the Chairman of Board of Directors of SEC, Dr. Khalid bin Saleh Al-Sultan explained that the employees working in the meter reading will be requalified and trained in other work at the company, indicating that the new meters can modify applications and monitor their consumption remotely and know which devices consume more or less in addition to determining the path of consumption.