The Public Authority for Water ‘Diam’ continues to work on installing smart water meters in the Governorate of Muscat. Until the end of July, more than 90,000 smart meters have been installed in the governorate. The Authority's plan is to complete the installation of 270,000 smart meters by the end of 2021 during the second phase of the project at a cost of RO25 million, in partnership with the private sector.
It said the devices will be directly installed in new homes in the Muscat Governorate if they are under the umbrella of the water service.
Subscribers of the water service in the governorate can apply for prepaid smart meters through the authority’s website, it explained, confirming that prepaid water meters are distinguished by allowing the subscriber to control the consumption of water, and the ‘Diam’ shall take care of the meter costs and replaces it for free.
This meter also works with a prepaid system upon use, and the subscriber can fill the meter using the same payment channels currently available, which will be available 24 hours and linked to the counter system. They will notify the consumer before and after the expiration of the prepaid amount. The meter works at the same tariff for the postpaid counter.
Also, the pre-paid meter does not need to issue monthly or estimated bills as the consumer can know the amount of water as well as the amount of consumption.
The new system works to update the amount of consumption per hour, which enables the subscriber to compare consumption in the event of internal leakage. Besides, one of the advantages of the smart meter is that it reduces the estimated readings and gets instant messages when there is a sudden leakage problem in the house. It also facilitates maintenance work and follow-up breakdowns. The project will also contribute to reducing loss rate, for Diam, so that it can know the amount of produced and distributed water.
The first phase of the electronic meters project in Musandam Governorate achieved success and ease for subscribers, as about 10,000 smart meters were installed.
The authority conducts field visits to get acquainted with the installation of meters, check the accuracy of the readings, and take them automatically. Using a technology known as ‘Laura’, the meter data will be transmitted to the Diam server through the Internet of Things. This is considered the most recent technology in the world. This application provides fast and large data transfer as it is one of the revolutions of artificial intelligence.
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