By Abdul Ghani

The Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) plans to install 65,000 Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) meters under a foreign-funded Electricity Distribution Efficiency Improvement Project (EDEIP), according to a project document available with Wealth Pakistan.

The revised PC-I places the cost of the 65,000 AMI meter installation component at Rs1.82 billion, equivalent to $6.5 million. The project envisages replacing existing conventional meters with advanced meters to improve electricity metering, billing and distribution efficiency.

According to the document, the AMI meter component is part of a broader package to modernise PESCO's distribution network. The project also includes the installation of 1,298 kilometres of aerial bundled cable (ABC) on 60 11 kV feeders in the Peshawar and Khyber circles, along with technical assistance, training and project implementation support.

The revised cost of the ABC installation component has been estimated at Rs3.415 billion, while technical assistance involving equipment for metering and testing, workshops, IT systems, vehicles and other requirements has a revised cost of around Rs2.67 billion.

The document puts the total revised cost of the EDEIP at Rs30.256 billion, including Rs8.988 billion in local costs and Rs21.268 billion in foreign costs,  equivalent to approximately $108.06 million.

The project is designed to strengthen PESCO's distribution infrastructure and improve operational and financial efficiency through modern metering, network upgrades and technology-based systems.

The AMI component is particularly significant as smart meters can facilitate more accurate consumption measurement and provide utilities with better data for billing and network management.

Credit: INP-WealthPk