Omne Agate bags order for GPRS-based metering system from UHBVN

New Delhi, December 23, 2009

The Chennai-headquartered technology solutions provider Omne Agate Systems today said it had won an order from Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (UHBVN) to implement India's first GPRS-based electricity metering system.

Omne Agate, which focuses on online energy management solutions, will conduct online energy audits for 19,000 distribution transformers of UHBVN for the next three years, a press release from the company said.

According to it, the contract is in compliance with the Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (R-APDRP) of the Ministry of Power.

With a budget of about Rs. 55,000 crores, R-APDRP is a Government of India initiative for reduction of Aggregate Transmission and Commercial (AT&C) losses through automated processes. Distribution transformer metering and automated meter reading are the primary steps towards reduction of AT&C losses, and use of GPRS technology is the latest advancement in the metering domain, the release explained.

The release said GPRS-enabled metering offered advantages such as real-time and dynamic data collection, continuous recording and monitoring of consumption, load survey and power quality and multiple meter data management. It said the system was protocol independent and enabled applications such as online billing, utility operations, emergency demand response, consumer options, pricing options, energy audit, and energy accounting.

The company said it had an existing automated meter reading (AMR) installation base of more than 35,000 units and another 18,000 units under implementation across various utilities in India.

"Over the last decade, we have built a strong customer base among electricity boards across the country and have emerged as a market leader in the AMR space. GPRS-enabled metering is a revolution in the AMR space and a timely technology solution to address India's power deficit issue. We are proud to be pioneers in the building and implementation of this technology. In the forthcoming financial year, we will look at growing our footprint in the private sector," Mr K R Ilanghovan, Managing Director, Omne Agate Systems, said.

UHBVN, a Government of Haryana undertaking, is responsible for the power distribution and retail supply business in the northern parts of Haryana.

NNN