Shuaa Services is planning to implement the second stage of reading electricity metres in nine distribution companies in Egypt next month. A source at the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC) said that the metres assigned to Shuaa in the second phase are up to 10 million, including two sectors in each of the distribution companies to improve the service quality, overcome the root causes of abnormal readings and regulate metre readings and accuracy. The sources added that the contract with Shuaa is for three years and the first pilot phase was for seven million metres, including one sector in each distribution company. The EEHC and its subsidiary bear a commission fee for each metre, worth EGP 1.55 per bill. El-Husseiny El-Far, a member of the electricity companies' distribution affairs department at the Ministry of Electricity, said that the pilot phase was not good at first but improved in the past few months and achieved good growth, which prompted them to start the second phase. The project comes within the framework of the electricity sector plan to change all the metres of the electricity network with other smart or pre-paid metres, with the redistribution of the metre-reading staff to support the collection work, leading to a reduction of the deferred and zero-reading ratio. In addition, the plan aims at improving the rate of loss, overcoming the cumulative balance of metres, increasing collection rates, and reducing arrears, as well as to reduce irregular readings and accuracy of accounting, and reducing complaints of subscribers due to the regularity of detection and control. El-Far said that distribution companies were directed not to issue any bills before ensuring accuracy. The ministry adopted this plan until the electricity network is transformed into a smart grid. The future vision of the electricity sector is based on the gradual transformation of the current network from a typical network to a smart grid using modern technologies and information systems. There is an interaction between the operator and the consumer to manage energy demand and make full use of all the available resources.
