PESCO to install 65,000 smart meters under $108m upgrade project

ISLAMABAD, Sep 09 (APP):The Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) plans to install 65,000 Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) meters as part of its Electricity Distribution Efficiency Improvement Project (EDEIP).

According to documents available with Wealth Pakistan, the smart-meter installation forms part of PESCO’s foreign-funded distribution upgrade project, which also includes major improvements to the company’s distribution network in Peshawar and Khyber circles.

The installation of the 5-20kW AMI meters has been allocated Rs1.82 billion under the revised PC-I, with the component carrying a dollar cost of $6.5 million.

Another component involves installation of aerial bundled cable (ABC) on 60 feeders in the two circles, covering a total length of 1,298 kilometres. The revised cost of this component stands at Rs3.415 billion, including Rs683.043 million in local and Rs2.732 billion in foreign costs.

The project also provides for technical assistance covering equipment for metering and testing, transformer workshops, testing and protection, personal protective equipment, IT and vehicles. This component has a revised allocation of Rs2.67 billion.

Training and capacity building have been allocated Rs126 million, while another Rs560 million has been earmarked for project implementation support.

The overall EDEIP carries a revised cost of Rs30.256 billion, equivalent to $108.056 million, comprising Rs8.988 billion in local costs and Rs21.268 billion in foreign costs.

The project estimates also include financing costs, price and physical contingencies and project overheads for PESCO support.

The 65,000 AMI meters, together with the ABC installation and technical-support components, constitute part of PESCO’s broader electricity distribution efficiency improvement programme.