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When it comes to effective energy management, the telecom tower companies face substantial losses due to operational leakages. To address these energy challenges, we came up with a series of webinars which took place in two parts.

In this webinar, we addressed the grid energy challenges and talked about green energy management. To find out how you can tackle grid theft, operational leakages and manage grid energy efficiently, watch this webinar.

• Introduction:
  1. The journey of telcos and towercos and their need for power
  2. The evolution of grid
• Energy management business challenges
• Possible Approaches and potential options in future
  1. Integrating processes for efficient and smarter energy management
  2. Digitising billing – verification, validation and payment approval process
  3. Smart metering infrastructure and advantages- how does it cater to smart energy management
  4. Energy-efficient alternatives in coming future- solar and other renewables

• Monitoring and tracking grid energy in real-time has reduced vandalism and grid theft. The smart meters make grid meter readings readily available, showing on time consumption. It’s easier to spot anomalies and take corrective action.
• Monthly billing, reconciliation, payment is possible with automation and digitization of grid bill upload without the load of paperwork.
• Digitizing and categorizing grid bill data will :

1. Reduced manual efforts by 75-80%
2. Enhanced the bill data quality by 25-30%
3. Improved the turnaround time on grid bill upload and validation by 30-35%
4. Improve payment to Electricity Utility Company thereby reducing penalty and disconnection.

• Solar power from solar farms or mini-grid as an alternate energy source is a cost-effective option. It cuts down grid costs and guarantees ROI in the long run.

Question 1: Does the operator have to invest in a smart energy meter on top of the meters provided by the grid suppliers?

Yes, operators may have to invest in the procurement and installation of the energy meters. It depends on the arrangement with the grid company, if they can expose the central system APIs from where the data can be read. At times the pay off on the smart meter is justified for the operator. We help companies work out the business case for investment in smart meters.

Question 2: The decision of implementing Smart Metering depends on grid authorities. In our part of the region it is Government controlled. So how can we take it forward. Who will provide Smart Meters hardware and related softwares to manage.

You don’t need to replace the existing meters or touch the government meters. Just install parallel meters which take the inputs and do the same task like the existing meter. The data will be fetched into our software platform giving a transparent picture and update of what is happening in the field. So there is no special permission required from the government to install parallel meters for this purpose.

Question 3: Is the algorithm and process in the data management and process the same for all customers in specific regions or is it common for all customers ?

The algorithm and process is both customer-specific and region-specific. A lot of data management depends on the type of grid situation the customers are in and the backup power arrangements they have. There are many factors to consider like the battery capacity, load on it as well as tenancy and sharing on the site . We help our customers plan what their equipment lifecycle should be going forward and then take it from there.

Question 4: How do you integrate the bill of the vendor to compare it with the real consumption of the meter register. I have seen several cases where the electricity vendor doesn’t go to the site and they do an average.

Most of the sites do not get visited every month, they sometimes get visited twice a year or at most, once a year. There are different mechanisms used to prorate those billings followed by a periodic reconciliation. So once the data is there, our product suite helps to validate that and is able to predict the bill for the respective site.