Design and development of vigilant energy metering system (VEMS) and its applications

Vigilant energy metering system (VEMS) is an intelligent solution to the revenue crisis and energy thefts prevalent in Indian power sector. It provides the data acquisition, transfer and data processing capabilities among the energy meters, local area stations and the base. Technical advances in metering technology and the use of information technology result in enhanced efficiency, revenues, and better management and customer services. It also facilitates load forecasting and control, identifies potential areas of theft, losses and takes measures to rectify it. The communication link consists PSTN link, which is the usual telephone link, and TV cable link. Advantage of VEMS is that it facilitates real monitoring of the distribution network so that in future there is the possibility of implementing 'distribution automation'. As an added advantage, we can connect the water and gas meters to this system using the meter interface units (MIUs) to develop a remote unified billing system.