Enemalta blames vacant properties and the popularity of solar panels for a further 12-month delay in completing the installation of smart meters.
Smart meters allow for real-time, remote readings of electricity and water usage
Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi said last week that meter installation should be completed by the end of 2014, one year behind the latest target date set, two years later than originally planned and half a decade after meters started being rolled out.
According to an Enemalta spokeswoman, vacant, inaccessible properties and an unexpected uptake of photovoltaic panels are the two major causes to this latest year-long delay.
Installers are finding it “almost impossible” to access properties that lie vacant and unused, she said.
The energy corporation had also been taken by surprise by the number of households with PV panels installed, which “far exceeded the numbers expected”, she added.
“PV panels require the installation of two smart meters to cover all the metering requirements specified by the Malta Resources Authority,” the spokeswoman explained.
She said that, in many cases, smart meter installers came across PV panels that had been incorrectly fitted, forcing them into making “at least” one further visit to the property in question.
Three out of every four registered properties has been equipped with a smart meter so far. Enemalta technicians – as well as some Water Services Corporation ones – now have a further 18 months to complete the remaining 25 per cent of installations.
Smart meters allow for real-time, remote readings of electricity and water usage. Once switched on and fully-functional, they promise to make manual meter readings a thing of the past and allow consumers to track their consumption patterns online.
Following installation, it is up to utility billing company ARMS Ltd to switch consumers over to automated billing.
In a report issued late last year, the National Audit Office had expressed concern at the company’s intention of switch-ing billing accounts over to smart metered-readings in one fell swoop.
That strategy has now changed and ARMS is in the process of incrementally switching consumers over to automated billing. According to a com-pany spokesman, about 45,000 accounts have been switched over so far, with the roll-out continuing throughout this year.
Installation of the meters began in spring 2009, following a €70 million government deal with IBM to implement a nationwide smart utility grid.
At the time, the deal had attracted international attention, with the Financial Times writing that “the island of Malta is not only creating one of the world’s most advanced smart grids, it is also building smarter water and waste management systems”.
According to Enemalta’s spokeswoman, plans are now in place to structure the smart metering project as one project, with Enemalta, WSC and ARMS coordinating roles “to better manage dependencies and accelerate deployment”.