Mitigation of overbilling syndrome and poor management system in MEPCO and its financial benefits | |
| Author | Shakil, Muhammad Hasnain |
| Call Number | AIT Proj. no.PM-EBM-13-04 |
| Subject(s) | Electricity Electric meters |
| Note | A project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Professional Master in Energy Business Management |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | The basic responsibility of an electricity distribution company is to purchase electricity from Dispatch Company and distribute it to the end users regarding any load of all kinds and to run the business profitably as well. For survival of the electricity distribution company, one of the biggest pitfalls is the level of its two kinds of energy loss. The measuring instrument of purchasing and selling electricity is energy meter in other words energy meters are the cash box of a distribution company. The difference between purchasing and selling end is called losses. The utilities always try to minimize this difference to minimize revenue loss. There are two types of losses: technical and non-technical. Technical losses are result of overloading and poor quality of network and its equipment but its share in quantum of losses is very small. The share of non-technical losses is more significant. Non-technical losses are the result of theft and due to weak administration. Theft is mostly caused by tampering, reversing and illegal abstraction of electrical energy mainly direct supply due to poor law in order situation of country and distribution company area. Administrative weaknesses are resulted to overbilling false reading and corrupt culture to overcome the high loss level figure. The electricity distribution companies from all over the world are trying to reduce the energy losses which are the main reasons of revenue losses. There is not so much study on losses because it cannot be accurately measured but always just estimated. Theft can never be 100% eliminated but can be reduced to a bearable level to sustain the financial loss. A lot of struggles are being made by the distribution companies but only 15% to 20% is detected and 85% to 80% remains at site. The energy demand and consumption is increasing worldwide but energy losses are also increasing due to increase in energy prices also. Operational and preventive measures can be made to overcome this issue but result will not be so much achieved as per the desired limits. To overcome these issues, only the way left is the use of advance technology for metering and billing systems of distribution companies. The loss level in Pakistan is 20.80% and for MEPCO it is 19.33% during financial year 2012-2013. The AMR technology is most adopted technology worldwide for metering to achieve the required targets regarding reduction of losses and increase in revenue collection because it reduces the level of theft and also administrative losses as well. Different communication technologies are being used for AMR infrastructure. In this study the communication technologies are identified and selected on the basis of its features. The cost/benefit analysis of the selected GSM based AMR technology is made in this study for MEPCO Distribution Company. |
| Year | 2013 |
| Type | Project |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) + School of Management (SOM) |
| Department | Department of Energy and Climate Change (Former title: Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (DEECC)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Energy Business Management (Professional Master) (PM-EBM) |
| Chairperson(s) | Marpaung, Charles O. P.; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Singh, Jai Govind;Salam, P. Abdul; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | World Bank (EDSMAT); |
| Degree | Project (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2013 |