COMMERCIAL FEATURE The meters communicate with a data concentrator installed at the distribution transformer by means of a reliable and robust data transmission technology based on S-FSK IEC 61334-5-1 open standard with repetition mechanism to ensure the availability of signal at long distances up to 2 km. Prepayment functionality Not a single DSO is protected from the risk of its consumers getting into debt and recovery from this type of issue takes a lot of time and resources. ADDAX offers E.ON prepayment functionality as an efficient tool to avoid debt accumulation. This is especially relevant for consumers who have irregular income and would have trouble settling debts should they have any. Prepayment additionally gives charity and aid organizations the ability to distribute tokens (20 digit numerical codes enabling consumers to load a pre- determined amount of kWh) to the residents that need assistance. Consumers can enter the code using the CIU’s keypad to load credit into the meter. System Deployment and Results In this pilot project there were three different installation methods for the pole mounted meter: • First method: Installing meters without any pole heightening and cabinets, mounting it directly on the overhead cable between the pole and the house. This type of installation can be used in areas where pole climbing and mains wire hacking and theft methods are not a common thing. • Second method: Installing the meters on heightened poles without an enclosure directly on the overhead cable. This is an intermediate solution. Due to the heightened pole it’s hard to hack the main wires and the meters, but due to a lack of enclosures, it is quite a cheap solution. • Third method: Installing meters on heightened poles inside a cabinet for extra protection. The poles were heightened (with custom heightening equipment or by changing the poles) and the meters are placed in closable plastic or metal cabinets. In this way it’s almost impossible to reach the main wires or the meters. This solution will be effective in the most critical areas. In the actual phase of the project about 200 meters are installed in two different cities with four data concentrators. Figure 2: Pole Mounted Meters installed in a cabinet In the first few weeks after the installation the meters worked only as control meters and the consumer’s actual meter was still used for billing purposes. During this time E.ON could already get an accurate picture of energy losses. The highest measured consumption was about 4000 kWh per month in a single-phase connected family house, but the consumer had paid only a small part of this energy according to their billing meter. Due to the ADDAX Pole Mounted Meter, the real consumption was now billable to the customer. A head end system collects the data hourly so E.ON can get an exact picture about the summarised consumption and make accurate consumption plans in order to reduce losses and optimise system operation. The distribution of the CIUs has just started and pole mounted meters will become billing meters from the CIU handover. The majority of the consumers seem to have accepted the fact that they cannot steal energy anymore. They have started using alternative sources of energy, e.g. wood for heating, in order to reduce their electricity bills. “...residents are willing to have a legal connection...” METERING INTERNATIONAL ISSUE - 1 | 2014 The E.ON Hungary, Energy Metering Department says, “We have noticed an increased number of residents that are willing to sign contracts within the pilot areas. We could explain this increased number of requests as a positive long term effect of the pilot project, namely: residents are willing to have a legal connection, due to the fact that theft is not possible anymore. “ The system has been in operation for about two months and preliminary results are quite promising. Now we are waiting for the technical and social outcomes of the project and it is anticipated that pole mounted meters can be an effective and convincing method to fight against illegal energy consumption. MI ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Viktor Csáki graduated from Technical University of Budapest in Mechatronics engineering specialization in 2011. He lives in Hungary and works at Dobos Electronics Ltd. as a hardware developer and technical supporter where he manages the technical background of the pole mounted meter project. About the company: Dobos Electronics Ltd. was founded in 1991 in Hungary. The company develops unique metering equipment, remote and local meter reading software and systems related to electrical energy. Since 2011 the company has been the official distributor of ADD products in Hungary. 27