IntelliSmart Powers up India’s Utilities with Airtel IoT Smart Utilities solution

The Indian power sector & DISCOMs face an annual AT&C loss of 15.4% as of the last financial year. This is primarily due to poor power quality and uneven flow of power in transmission, power theft and deficiencies in metering. To counter this, the Government of India launched theRevamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), with an aim of deploying 250 million smart power meters to replace traditional meters. One of the goals of this deployment is to reduce AT&C losses down to 5% annually. Initiatives by entities, such as IntelliSmart Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd, are underway to expedite the rollout of smart meters.

The Challenge

Improving India’s Electricity Distribution

To streamline smart meter implementation and support power distribution companies (DISCOMs),the RDS scheme mandates Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) on TOTEX mode. This ensures DISCOMs avoid upfront costs and the project becomes self-financing. They will receive a mix of upfront and performance-based payments spread over the project’s life cycle. This Public-Private approach will ensure accountability and a smooth rollout of smart meters across India.

This really poses a challenge for the AMISPs as they need to manage all different components of the smart meters to keep the solution live and functioning. The complex task of managing numerous partners, diverse delivery methods, and critical connectivity SLAs is where telecom companies like Airtel Business excel. Their expertise allows them to provide superior connectivity thereby ensuring smoother operations. Beyond managing partners and delivery methods, AMISPs also face challenges in ensuring end-to-end service management, successful project execution, and maintaining consistent uptime.

Recognising the need to address critical issues like effective energy monitoring, robust security, and real-time data transmission, IntelliSmart sought a partner who could provide a comprehensive solution to ensure successful achievement of SLAs

The Solution

Simplifying Smart Metering with Airtel IoT

Successful and reliable delivery of quality services are critical for AMISPs to get returns on their investment. Here, SLAs become essential for the success of the project.

Airtel with its legacy offers:

1. The ability to run the IoT/Communication infrastructure of this project for ten years due to its stability, reach and reputation.
2. The ability to offer SLAs on connectivity.
3. End-to-end ownership of all elements, acting as a single point of contact for all SLAs.

Mr Anil Rawal, MD & CEO of IntelliSmart, says, “As we set forward to implement one of India’s largest portfolios of smart meters, we are relying on some of the most able and potent partners in the sector for various solution elements to support the successful deployment of our Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) solutions. We are confident that the on-boarding of Airtel as a strategic partner will be a significant step towards our goal of creating strong associations to strengthen our infrastructure solution with a resilient and secure cloud-hosted cellular communication network.”

The Smart Energy Metering Solution solves the pain points of ineffective energy monitoring, security concerns, and data transmission bottlenecks. Airtel offered a solution which is equipped with multiple products like:

• IoT Connectivity (2G, 3G, 4G, NB-IoT) Smart meters accurately measure energy consumption while featuring a built-in network interface card (NIC) for seamless two-way communication by leveraging various communication technologies such as 2G, 4G, and NB-IoT.
• Smart Meter Application (HES) – Smart meters establish robust connectivity with the cloud-based Head End System (HES). This connectivity ensures real-time data transmission and enables efficient monitoring of energy consumption patterns.
• Cloud Integration – Smart meters create data logs for different applications. Cloud integration for these smart meters enables storage of data for secure & easy access along with analytics centrally.
• IoTHub – Smart metering solution also provides access to Airtel IoTHub which serves as the control center. It is equipped with advanced analytical software for comprehensive network monitoring and management. Airtel IoTHub helps in managing all the smart meters from one unified dashboard.

All these different components come together to ensure smart meters are running smoothly despite the scale of operations but are owned by Airtel end-to-end. This means IntelliSmart gets a single SLA for all running services managed by Airtel.

The successful implementation and execution  this project will paves the way how utilities in India are run operationally. Once this model is successful, the same can be replicated for water and gas utilities with advanced features like predictable pricing framework, differential pricing models, etc. to revolutionise utilities for the future of India.

The Impact

Transforming Utility Services in India

Airtel Business’ solution enabled IntelliSmart to substantially reduce smart meter deployment TAT. We also back the solution uptime with industry leading SLAs which ensure superior services throughout without failures. Lastly, we offer network consultancy to expedite rollout and ensure that the right connectivity technology is available in the right region so that the meters always stay connected.