Single phase GSM based wireless energy metering with user notification system

The automation is now becoming necessary almost in every field including distribution, control and monitoring of electrical energy. However, in Pakistan the situation is very poor, and the country is facing the severe energy crisis because of outdated power system infrastructure. Even the energy monitoring and metering system for billing is still based on conventional electro-mechanical type meters; which are now being replaced by electronic type digital energy meters in many sub-divisions of Pakistan. However, the collection of energy meter readings data from these meters is being conducted manually which opens the doors of corruption in the form of overbilling which is a major challenge for the current government together with the electricity theft. Although; some steps, including the deployment of mobile based meter reading process using android phones, have been taken to solve this issue but the problem still persists. This is mainly because of the traditional manual meter reading method, which is obsolete, outmoded, inefficient and time consuming. So, this paper presents the simple, efficient, and inexpensive design of an automatic single phase energy meter reading system based on GSM wireless network which also has the provision for user notification. This system uses the short messaging service to transmit the energy meter readings data to utility for billing as well as to update the consumers about their energy usage on regular basis. Moreover, this paper also discusses the potential impacts of this system usage both for utilities and consumers especially in Pakistan.