DOI: 10.1109/ICAEE.2013.6750334 A Novel Smart Metering System for Loss Reduction and Efficient Load Management in the Power Distribution Sector of Bangladesh GMA Ehsan ur Rahman, Khawza I Ahmed, Raqibul Mostafa, Md. Fayyaz Khan Department Electrical and Electronic Engineering, United International University E-mail: {erahman,khawza,rmostafa,fyk}@eee.uiu.ac.bd Abstract— This paper presents a prototype implementation of smart meter that facilitates the migration of our existing conventional distribution systems towards the smart distribution system. This is a step forward towards implementation of smart grid system. The proposed smart meter that establishes a two- way wireless communication link between the consumer premise and service provider can provide a number of advantages and add-on features, such as, establishing flexible dynamic multirate tariff planning, identifying and locating the premise of system loss, and full time monitoring and subsequent decision-making. In particular, an improvement of the load shedding scenario in Bangladesh is proposed based on the analysis of the load shedding data furnished by Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC). It is observed that a particular feeder can be operated with less frequent load shedding if the individual customer is allowed to operate within a reduced limit monitored by the novel smart meter. Keywords—smart meter; AMI; smart grid; load shedding; Zigbee; wireless network I. Introduction A regular or conventional meter only reads the energy usage, i.e., consumption of electricity or gas, and someone needs to go to its vicinity to record the data manually. An automatic meter reader (AMR) records the energy usages by itself and a meter reader loads that to a portable data collection device. Although AMR is better option compared to the conventional meter in terms of the authenticity of measured data, it does not eliminate the necessary presence of a meter reader in the customer premise thus can not reduce the operational expenses. A host of add-on features can be envisioned with the appearance of advance metering infrastructure (AMI) that allows a smart meter to establish a two-way communication link between the meter at the customer premises and the server at the service provider premises. Smart meter resides at the heart of the smart grid system [1]. Smart meters are currently explored in literature for their key role in implementing cost-effective and efficient systems [2-3]. Fig. 1 shows the AMI capability that belongs to a subset of what a smart grid does in broader perspective. Since the primary focus of this paper is related to the development of a smart meter prototype and its utilization in the present context of Bangladesh, here we elaborate the features and utilities of smart meter. Smart Meter, like smart phone, provides additional features and extra add-on that 1 AMR Customer Outage Detection Automated Meter Reads Theft ID Remote TFTN Remote Meter Programming AMR Capability+ Load Control Price Signals sent to Customer New Rate Design AMI Smart Grid AMI Capability+ Remote detection – sensors everywhere Central and distributed analysis Correction of disturbances on the grid Optimizes grid assets Distribution Automation Leverage data to understand system performance better “ Self Healing” Enable use of renewable resources Enable electrification of transportation Hourly Remote Meter Reads Customer Voltage Measurement Source: EnerNex Fig. 1. Smart Grid, AMI and AMR benefit both the service provider and the consumers. With the help of communication technology (CT) the two-way communication allows seamless meter reading on-demand basis from remote location anytime which eliminates the need for manual meter reader. With the help of information technology (IT) smart meter may help the distribution system smarter from the point of monitoring and subsequent decision making [4]. Consumer can also visualize their usage and plan accordingly. With the implementation of the Smart-Meter system the total distribution system will be benefited and will act like a smart distribution system that would provide the following features: • It is able to handle effectively the menace of system loss in the distribution network. • It provides an efficient billing system that can implement multi-rate tariff depending on both „time of usage‟ and 'volume of usage' throughout the day or period. • It delivers a usage profile specific to a particular user that will make it more transparent to both the consumer and service provider.