The new CESI’s AMI initiative in Pakistan

The introduction in Pakistan of the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) has made a new big step with a four-phase project commissioned to CESI by Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) and financed by Asian Development Bank (ADB).

With the goal of achieving significant AMI coverage across Pakistan´s major cities and hubs of industrial activities, the project aims to cover 1.8 million consumers in three circles and a new modern billing system for the entire LESCO company. The investment program will cover the costs of electricity metering infrastructure, as well as the necessary communication and Customer Information System (CIS) and billing system. The objective of the assignment has been to involve a Consultant experienced in the field of Project implementation of AMI to ensure that project implementation will follow Client’s requirements and will be in accordance to the best practice .

The scope of CESI’s involvement in this new AMI project extends over four phases:

• procurement process and preparatory activities;
• supervision of supply and installation phase of meters and IT systems both related to data gathering and management, as well as to the billing of power consumption;
• post installation phase that includes the assistance on works’ defects;
• support during the implementation of Social Information Programs to explain to customers the reasons for the massive change of meters and the targets and benefits they shall get with this new technology

Due to the current energy scenario in the country, the Government of Pakistan has decided to intervene for increasing financial viability and reliability of the power distribution system with initiatives such as the one mentioned above. Operations of this kind would lead to cost savings for distribution companies (DISCOs), power consumers, as well as working towards an improvement of both quality of service for consumers and the overall economic activity.

It is worth to mention that CESI has been selected through an international tender, as implementation consultant for two different projects covering the two main Pakistani DISCOs: LESCO and IESCO . With such initiatives, CESI continues to increase the list of assigned projects, boasting more than twenty years of experience in similar assignments, developed throughout a deep involvement as technical consultant in the major smart metering initiatives worldwide.