Title: “Development and Piloting of Utility End Web Application Server and Mobile Application for Recharge Urja Meter (RUM)-Advanced Metering Service for Rural Off-Grid Communities”

Authors:          Pramish Shrestha (PI)-Kathmandu University,

Email: pramish.shrestha@ku.edu.np, Mob.:9849345475

Sanjeev Pokhrel (Sustainable Solutions for Energy and Environment),

Prabin Ram Sharma (Sustainable Solutions for Energy and Environment

Project Overview:

• Minigrid projects are generally built with active community participation giving the ownership of the project to the community themselves.
• This often results in electricity users treating even the generated electricity more like a property rather than a commodity.
• Adding to that the strong intra-community relations make regulations less effective, hence people are not paying the bill, the records are not well-managed, the projects are understaffed leading to technical mismanagement as well.
• In terms of value proposition revenue protection has always been one of the biggest challenges for Utilities.
• Our System: Recharge Urja Meter (RUM) consists of SMS/online based prepaid Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) managed and monitored centrally by the local system operator.
• Having implemented in two LDSOs (Solukhola Micro Hydro Power Plant, Nele, Solukhumbu and Molung Khola Micro Hydro Power Plant, Rangadeep, Okhaldhunga) consisting of 1500 households, RUM has proven to be beneficial for the rural electricity users, as they don’t have to walk long distances to pay their bills, can budget their own energy usage and familiarize with digital payment systems.

Objective

After observing the results from our installations, several potential clients (NACEUN/NEA, AEPC and several CREES to name a major few) have shown interest in implementing our system. But to be able to take that leap in client volume, we are in dire need for system strengthening and application development. As of now our system consists of a centrally managed AMI server with a meter data management system (MDMS). To increase our outreach effectively, we need to upgrade our system (only software upgradation is considered in this Project), develop utility end monitoring and control application and develop mobile application platforms with payment system integration.

Expected outcomes:

RUM Advanced Metering infrastructure operates on a unique symbiosis of mobile technology, prepaid metering and internet. Our system utilizes the existing mobile network to receive and reply to several user requests such as meter recharge requests, clear tamper requests, load limit enhancement requests. Using a low cost offline prepaid metering technology and pairing it with the mobile network gives us the ability to send and receive information to our clients. This also enables the rural household in adapting with the modern financial mechanisms in a more acceptable way as recharging utilities is now a common for most of the Nepalese population. For users who have access to the internet, they can utilize it to make the same requests and monitor their household energy usage.