Ilocos Norte power coop adopts smart metering system in 6 pilot areas

(Photo by Leilanie Adriano)

LAOAG CITY, Philippines — Government and commercial buildings in five municipalities and a city in Ilocos Norte will be tapped to pilot smart meters in the first quarter of 2025.

The smart metering system will be pilot-tested in the towns of Nueva Era, Dingras, Pagudpud, Bacarra, Badoc, and the city of Laoag, Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative (INEC) acting general manager Cipriano Martinez said.

National Electrification Administration administrator Antonio Mariano Almeda and Department of Energy Assistant Secretary Mario Marasigan led the ceremonial switching of the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) Wednesday afternoon at INEC’s main office in Barangay Suyo, Dingras.

“This is a bold step in realizing NEA’s modernization initiatives for the rural electrification sector,” Almeda told reporters after the ceremony.

Ilocos Norte is among the pilot areas for the AMI.

The smart meters will measure consumption at short intervals and transmit the data automatically, securely, and without errors to the energy distributor, without needing the power distributor’s employees to read the meters physically.

The supplier will bill actual energy consumption, not estimated consumption, and will be able to identify accidents more quickly and reduce intervention times.

With smart grids, member-consumer-owners of INEC will also benefit from the project as they can monitor their energy consumption easily and flexibly.

“Right now, our transmission loss is about 10-20 percent out of the around P200 million that we pay monthly to power generators. With AMI, we hope to save more from transmission loss as we are consuming an average of 34 million kilowatts a month,” Martinez said.

Asked about the investment cost, Martinez said the INEC management would find a way to shoulder the rollout of the pilot project and expand the installation once proven effective.