His Royal Highness Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Energy, affirmed that the project to manufacture smart electric meters locally and localize their technologies began with an idea, so a team was formed from several bodies, in addition to introducing global experiences, whether in European or Asian countries, taking into account the best practices in terms of services and quality in the smart electric meter and quality of implementation.
This came during the press conference held today on the signing of the agreement to promote the manufacture of smart electric meters locally, and localization of its technologies. His Excellency stated that replacing old meters with smart one contributes to providing standards of accuracy and transparency, and instant readings with the latest means of communication without human intervention, to avoiding errors.
His Highness stated that the process of selecting companies implementing the smart electric meters project and localizing 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.
His Highness added that the Ministry of Energy considered in the process of switching that short times is the best, stressing that smart meters will enhance consumer confidence in the bill and will have a positive impact.
For his part, the CEO in charge of the Saudi Electricity Company, Fahd bin Hussein Al-Sudairi, explained that the company committed to reading the meters every 30 days starting from the summer of 2018, as they are 100% complete.
For his part, the Governor of the Saudi Organization for Standardization, Metrology and Quality, Dr. Saad bin Othman Al-Qasabi, stated that the role of standards is a critical for any industry and service provided in the Kingdom, indicating that the authority with its partners from government agencies or from the private sector applies the global system for measurement, standardization, and calibration, and its role is represented in two axes. The first is the standard, as there are more than 23 Saudi standards regarding smart meters, while the second is calibration as the Kingdom is a member of the International Organization for Legal Calibration in Paris. He is confirming that there will be a calibration system for these meters starting from approving the meter model to be presented and ending with the periodic calibration of the meters to ensure fair reading.
