The search for technological developments that allow using energy more efficiently has been a constant in Enel, and in this way, it has been the first company in the world to replace traditional (electromechanical) meters with smart meters in more than 40 million households in Europe, mainly in Italy and Spain.
Chile, for its part, has not lagged behind in adopting this technology. To achieve this, in 2016, Enel Distribución installed the first 50,000 smart meters in several districts of the Metropolitan Region.
One of the main advantages is allowing users to access their meter readings online, in order to identify and manage their consumption habits and times more efficiently. The active management of power consumption, includes not only to be informed about the daily energy consumption of a home, but also consumption by hour and even in comparison with the neighbors’ consumption.
Smart meters are highly innovative, since they not only record electricity consumption, but also have remote management and reading systems that can be read and operated remotely, favoring the comfort and safety of customers and allowing the company to expedite the solution to power outages or interruptions.
In addition, its installation allows customers to access distributed generation or Net Billing. This means that those who install self-generating energy systems, such as solar panels or other sources of renewable energy, the electricity flow can take place in both directions, that is, people can consume the energy generated by themselves or if they require more can extract it from the electricity network. In case their production is greater than their consumption, customers can also inject that surplus into the network, leaving all this information registered in the meter.
This new way of relating to energy has also given rise to new contributions in the quest for making consumption management easier for people, such as the development of mobile phone technology applications that allow viewing the information delivered by the smart meter, clearly and simply, including energy efficiency tips, relevant notifications, and alarms for power outages.