MontevideoGas will install smart meters to record the consumption of its customers.

We are working with the natural gas distributor of the capital of Uruguay to modernize its consumption monitoring and measurement system, with a smarter, safer, more reliable, and more convenient system for end users.

Context

MontevideoGas is a natural gas distribution company through pipelines. With more than 170 years of experience, it was a pioneer in this service in Latin America.

Today, around 37,000 households receive this service, and the company meets the demand of the Montevideo department.

The project

MontevideoGas chose us to incorporate smart gas meters into its infrastructure, a challenge we are taking on alongside our partner Kaifa, with the goal of modernizing the service monitoring and customer consumption measurement.

In the first stage, 2,250 standard meters will be replaced with the new equipment in households in Montevideo, in the neighborhoods of Prado, Pocitos, Centro, and Malvín (among others), prioritizing locations with difficult access (those where taking the consumption reading requires entering the interior of homes or patios).

What benefits does this transformation bring?

This change brings several advantages, both for the distributor and the end user.

From MontevideoGas's perspective, compared to traditional meters, smart meters provide the security of always having an accurate consumption reading, eliminating the need for consumption estimates.

At the same time, by replacing the manual reading of consumption at the household (since the new system receives the information automatically), the data is collected accurately and reliably, eliminating the possibility of errors caused by human intervention, such as incorrect readings or data entry mistakes.

Another advantage is that smart meters have the ability to detect service failures (such as large flow losses) or attempts to tamper with the meter as soon as they occur, ensuring greater security in the supply.

For customers, this update will represent the opportunity to access greater energy efficiency, as the meters provide more detailed information about their consumption. More precise monitoring of, for example, consumption habits allows users to have better control over their energy expenditure and, therefore, save money. Additionally, by using gas more efficiently, the carbon footprint is reduced.

Another benefit is convenience: with the previous system, the customer had to be at home for the MontevideoGas meter reader to take the meter reading. If this didn’t happen, the customer had to call to provide the value or an estimated value would be applied, which didn’t always reflect the actual consumption.

What impact will this project have on its operations and its relationship with customers?

For Federico Palazzi, Head of Market Development at MontevideoGas, this investment aims to improve the relationship with customers by enhancing their current processes.

One of the points they want to address is billing based on estimated consumption: "One of the factors that required requesting the reading from those customers month after month, sending inspectors, etc., will be eliminated." Palazzi adds that they plan to "use the granularity of the information to offer new services that will be useful to our customers, as well as more information so they can better manage their natural gas consumption and their daily lives in general."

From the perspective of MontevideoGas's operations, this project "will mean an improvement in the safety of our staff, as entering households involves certain specific risks (such as dog bites, for example)," concluded Palazzi.