The intelligent electricity meters will come from 2021
The city of Zurich's electricity company (EWZ) will replace around 270,000 electricity meters with smart meters from next year. The supporting systems are upgraded with additional components of intelligent measuring systems.
The intelligent electricity meters called Smart Meters will be available nationwide from 2021. The Zurich city council has approved tied expenditure of 194.2 million francs for this. In the coming years, the EWZ will replace 270,000 conventional meters with digital smart meters in order to meet the statutory requirements of the federal government.
These contribute to a CO2-neutral energy supply and security of supply. The individual areas such as the generation of electricity from renewable energies, storage and more through to the charging infrastructure for electric vehicles must be networked. Smart meters are digital and internet-enabled electricity meters, consisting of a measuring device and an intelligent distribution network (smart grid). In addition to the smart meters in the buildings, these systems include other components that ensure remote reading of the new measuring devices via the EWZ fiber-optic network. The consumption data of the end users are transmitted to the billing center in encrypted form.
In contrast to analog meters, which are read annually, digital smart meters can measure the consumption and power generation of a household around the clock and make this information available to customers. The new counters also enable definitive invoices to be created directly. In the future, billing will be based on the actual electricity consumption – every three months instead of bills on account and annual bills.
Affected property owners will be informed in good time by EWZ about the replacement of the meter. ■