First Round of Smart Meters Installed in Greece

The use of smart meters to monitor electricity consumption has finally hit Greece, according to reports at OT.gr, and the Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator (HEDNO) is installing the first 360,000 units.

HEDNO launched a tender to obtain 7.3 million smart meters and, according to OT.gr, the tender was awarded to Sagemcom-Protasis.

The first lot of 360,000 meters has arrived and are being installed, as a priority, on public and private buildings that have a high consumption of low voltage electricity.

Greece’s Ministry of Environment hopes that the smart meters will help provide the data it needs to establish new incentive schemes around electricity consumption.

For example, from May 1 until October 31, Greece offers lower electricity rates between the hours of 23:00 and 07:00. From November 1 – April 30 the discounted rates are between 15:00-17:00 and 02:00-08:00.

Through smart metering, the Ministry will be able to determine whether or not offering special rates at these times are actually justified, and is reportedly considering modifying the pricing structure based on the new, real-time information it will receive.

OT.gr says Greece may establish “zones” where it offers cheaper rates, and will likely offer cheaper electricity rates around noontime, to correspond with the time of day that Greece’s system is flooded with electricity from renewable energy sources.

Smart electricity meters are electronic devices that record electrical energy consumption levels, along with other information, and communicate the data to both consumers and electricity suppliers in real time.