FAISALABAD: Federal Minister for Energy Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan on Tuesday inaugurated Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) cell at computer centre of the Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (Fesco) headquarters and termed it a revolutionary step to enable the company as well as consumers simultaneously for accessing to real-time monitoring of meter data. According to a press release issued by the Fesco, the minister said that the power sector was being made consumer-friendly through implementation of the state-of-the-art technology of the AMI.
He said the AMI would not only help to control electricity theft and technical losses, but would also play a pivotal role in eliminating over-billing. The AMI would also be helpful in fault tracing and immediate restoration of power supply in case of power failure, he added. During the briefing, Chief Executive Officer Fesco Engr Bashir Ahmed & DG (IT) Abdul Hayee said that due to real-time provision of complete information regarding the usage of electricity on smart mobiles and computers of the consumer, there would be an end to wastage of electricity due to effective control of the consumer’s electricity usage times and bills. They said the Fesco was replacing all industrial and agricultural electricity meters with its own resources under a phase manner to provide better service to its consumers and more than 6,000 consumers had been shifted to this technology so far.
The Fesco chief said that the establishment of AMI section would escalate and improve performance of the project and all functions related to the AMI would be possible under one roof.
Meanwhile, the CEO briefed the federal minister about performance of the company and said that there was no single power transformer overload of the Fesco jurisdiction.
He said the company had benefited more than Rs1 billion in a short period of eight months with the construction of 500-KV Faisalabad West and 220-KV Lalian grid stations by National Transmission & Dispatch Company (NTDC) and due to improvement in network and reduction in losses.
He said that there was no shortage of new meters in the Fesco.
Recently 60,000 defective meters had been replaced and new meters were being installed within 15 days on application for new meters.
The Fesco was spending billions of rupees annually to improve its distribution system and nine grid stations were being constructed across the region with an estimated cost of Rs 3890 million, he added.
Federal Minister Khurram Dastgir appreciated the performance of the company and congratulated Chief Executive Engineer Bashir Ahmad and other officers and said the company’s performance was worthy of imitation by other distribution companies.
Special Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Rana Ehsan Afzal, Board Directors Humair Hayat Rokhri, Noman Khalid, Ali Ranjha, Raja Ameer Hamza, Babar Ikram, Malik Rab Nawaz, Mian Farrukh Iqbal and
officers were also present.