Water/power meters to be replaced in €70m project

The government will in the coming months embark on a €70 million project to replace all water and electricity meters with new remotely-read Smart meters, Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt said this afternoon.

The system, which will be provided by a consortium headed by IBM, will be deployed across all of Malta and Gozo within five years, including both business and domestic users.

Dr Gatt and consortium officials said the advantages of the system would be accurate and real-time meter-reading, doing away with estimates of consumption and the need for meters to be physically read by meter-readers.

They said the new system would also greatly reduce the risk of electricity theft - which currently cost Enemalta millions of euro every year.

The system will take readings every 15 minutes and consumers will be able to monitor their position at any time.

This will be the first time that a system of this nature will be deployed nation-wide.

Dr Gatt said that over the coming months 5,000 meters will be replaced as a pilot project to test the system.

The full roll-out will start next year, with some 84,000 smart meters being installed every year. Dr Gatt admitted that he would, if possible, like to see all meters installed in three years' time.

There are a total of 257,000 meters which have to be replaced.

He said consumers will continue to receive a single bill for their water and electricity consumption.