Hi Friends,

Even as I launch this today ( my 80th Birthday ), I realize that there is yet so much to say and do. There is just no time to look back, no time to wonder,"Will anyone read these pages?"

With regards,
Hemen Parekh
27 June 2013

Now as I approach my 90th birthday ( 27 June 2023 ) , I invite you to visit my Digital Avatar ( www.hemenparekh.ai ) – and continue chatting with me , even when I am no more here physically

Thursday 7 June 2018

A Smart Move , Shri Singh !




About a year back [ 19 May 2017 ] , I sent my following suggestion for introduction of a Smart Electricity Meter to the Cabinet Ministers :




But , how about a PREPAID ELECTRICITY METER , with following features / functionality ?


·         It will be a Tablet look-alike device
·          
·         It will show daily – weekly – monthly , power consumption of the premises
·          
·         It will show the “ average / highest / lowest “ monthly consumption
·          
·         It will also show how many UNITS remain to his BALANCE , at any given time
·          
·         It will show a GRAPH comparing consumptions during any two “ periods “
·          
·         It will have facility to enter ( type in ) , customer’s Aadhar Number ( of course, linked
          to his Bank Account Number )
·          
·         After login ( using biometric identification of Finger + Iris + Voice ) , customer can “
          Re-charge “ his “ Account “ with ( say ) , Rs 1,000 / - at the beginning, using the
          built-in Virtual Keyboard ( Device will have built-in camera )
·          
·         When the “ balance “ to his credit falls to ( say ) Rs 100 / - , an alarm will ring and
          he will also get Email / SMS / WhatsApp reminder
·          
·         If he fails to “ Re-Charge “ his account , power will get disconnected upon the
          balance falling to Rs 10/-  !
·          
·         Power will start flowing again as soon as consumer “ re-charges “ through device




None of this ( hardware + software + wireless telecom ) , is a Rocket Science !


Any Start Up can come up with such a total, end-to-end, solution within 6 months !


Only thing , this device cannot stop is UN-METERED THEFT of power , where wires get pulled from a power-line , bypassing the meter !


Other than this one limitation , this suggestion has the potential to dramatically improve the Financial Positions of the State DISCOMS !


Dear Shri Goyalji ,


Would you like to pose this challenge to our Start Ups ?


[ Read :






Today’s  Business Standard carries following headline :


  Dear Shri R K Singhji :


Many thanks for accepting my suggestion . I urge you to consider the specifications of such a Smart Electric Meter , as described in my above mentioned email


Extract from today’s Business Standard news item :

"In the next 3 years, metering will go smart and gone will be the days of bills reaching your house. So, need of the hour is to scale up manufacturing of smart prepaid meters and to bring down their prices," the statement cited Singh as saying.
"This will revolutionise the power sector by way of reduced AT&C ( aggregate technical and commercial ) losses, better health of discoms, incentivisation of energy conservation and ease of bill payments, etcetera," he said.


Dear Shri Singhji :

And now that there is so much talk of using Artificial Intelligence and Block-Chain technologies for improving productivity of all “ Retailing Processes “ ( - distributing electric power to millions of homes , is the biggest “ retailing / home delivery “ process ), I urge you to ask our scientists / engineers to consider the following research :

Scientists have developed a new artificial intelligence ( AI ) system that can detect ELECTRICITY THEFT and meter mis-readings –  a common problem in developing countries


A team from the University of Luxembourg looked at the energy use of 3.6 million Brazilian households over FIVE YEARS


The researchers specifically focussed on nearly 200 Million monthly readings made by professional meter readers


They then developed an algorithm that , after sifting through the readings, could recognize when energy use at a property was suspiciously low


Researchers verified their results with data on past inspections , checking if their tool was correctly highlighting potential cases of fraud or faulty metering


The most accurate versions of the system were able to identify problem cases just over 65 % of the time , News Scientist reported

[ Source : Economic Times / 26 Sept 2017 ]


08  June  2018


1 comment:

  1. Prepaid Meters would be all over in India in upcoming days. To reduce electricity theft and cost the government paying due to not paying electricity bills.

    ReplyDelete