The Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) project aims to give Visayan Electric customers a more seamless and technology-driven experience with their power utility.
Under the partnership, business establishments and households will be equipped with intelligent meters capable of providing real-time updates on electricity consumption, meter readings, and connectivity.
The enhanced connectivity is expected to improve transparency in power usage, enabling customers to better manage their consumption and reduce electricity costs.
Empower
Anton Perdices, group COO of AboitizPower Distribution Utilities, said during a May 20 news conference that DITO will provide the technology needed to remotely read and monitor the intelligent meters.
The system will allow Visayan Electric to immediately detect defective meters or power outages, as disruptions would result in the absence of meter readings. Customers, meanwhile, are expected to benefit from more accurate, real-time monitoring of their electricity consumption.
Perdices added that he envisions a mobile app that would enable consumers to track their electricity usage in real time and better manage their power consumption.
“Then we empower you to determine your consumption, what you want to do. Then you can play around,” he said, adding that consumers will eventually have the option to determine which appliances to turn off to reduce consumption.
No dumb pipe
Lawyer Adel Tamano, DITO Telecommunity chief commercial officer, said DITO has the technology that can support the vision set by Visayan Electric, adding that they are the most technologically advanced telco company in the country.
“It's clear to me they (Visayan Electric) want to move from a simple power play to a technological energy play that will involve different elements. Same with us,” he told reporters here.
This partnership with Visayan Electric is expected to be just the first of many collaborations in the future, he added.
“Imagine power and connectivity together. I think that's really a powerful proposition,” Tamano said.
He pointed out that DITO does not want to be just a “dumb pipe,” or a network that is content with simply serving as a conduit for data by providing high-speed connectivity without additional services.
DITO wants to provide a bundle of services — a whole ecosystem of offerings.
“If we just end up as a dumb pipe, there's no way we're going to win against the giants, right?” Tamano said.
Pilot
Visayan Electric has deployed about 600 intelligent meters enabled by DITO’s IoT SIMs, offering them to its aggregate customers upon request or application.
For residential customers, Visayan Electric is looking at Barangays Talamban and Sambag as pilot areas for the project after securing approval from the Energy Regulatory Commission by the first quarter of 2027. —Ed: Corrie S. Narisma
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