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"Why do they have to come and replace my home's smart electric meter when it has only been used for 5 years? And the power will be cut off for the day during the replacement, which is really inconvenient for my life!" In the past, many residents have faced such troubles. For a long time, the management of smart electric meters in China has always adopted the traditional "mandatory replacement upon expiration" model. Once the verification cycle of 8 years is reached, regardless of whether the meter can still measure accurately or is in good condition, it must be mandatory to be taken back to the laboratory for verification or directly scrapped and replaced with a new one. This model not only causes huge waste of resources, but also is accompanied by a series of problems such as power outages during meter replacement and high costs, becoming a pain point restricting the high-quality development of the power industry and the improvement of people's livelihood services. However, now, the "inaccurate meter replacement" model for smart electric meters pioneered by Tianjin is taking technological innovation as a breakthrough to completely solve this industry dilemma and provide a "Tianjin Solution" for the reform of national metrological management.
The drawbacks of the traditional smart electric meter management model have long been prominent. From the perspective of resources, a large number of electric meters that still have the normal metering function are scrapped in advance, resulting in serious waste of resources. According to statistics, taking a medium-sized city as an example, hundreds of thousands of smart electric meters are scrapped and replaced due to mandatory replacement every year. Many core components of these meters can still work normally, but they are treated as electronic waste due to the "one-size-fits-all" rule of service life. This not only consumes a large amount of raw materials such as metals and plastics, but also increases the pressure of electronic waste disposal. In terms of cost, under the mandatory scrapping model, huge funds need to be invested in the entire chain of meter procurement, transportation, testing, and installation, which imposes a heavy economic burden on both power enterprises and local finances. More importantly, the inevitable power outage during the meter replacement brings a lot of inconvenience to residents' daily lives, commercial operations, and industrial production, and may even cause certain economic losses, which is inconsistent with the people's expectations for high-quality power services.
To solve this problem, in recent years, Tianjin Institute of Metrology has taken the initiative to join hands with State Grid Tianjin Electric Power Company to form a special scientific research team and start the innovation and research of the smart electric meter management model. The scientific research team is well aware that to break the extensive "mandatory replacement upon expiration" model, the core lies in establishing a technical system that can accurately evaluate the operating status of electric meters. After numerous data analyses, model constructions, and experimental verifications, the team successfully built the "Electric Meter Status Evaluation Model Based on Big Data". This model is like installing a "health monitor" for electric meters, which can collect real-time operating data of electric meters, including key indicators such as voltage, current, power, and metering error. Through algorithms, it conducts in-depth analysis of the data to accurately judge the health status of electric meters.
On this basis, Tianjin has taken the lead in introducing two local technical specifications in China, namely the "Specification for Calibration of Operating Errors of Smart Electric Meters" and the "Specification for Implementation of Adjustment of Verification Cycles of Smart Electric Meters", providing a solid institutional guarantee for the implementation of the "inaccurate meter replacement" model. More notably, the team has also put forward the "Remote Accuracy Evaluation Model for Smart Electric Meters" for the time in the world, realizing the remote and accurate evaluation of the metering accuracy of electric meters without taking them back. This technological breakthrough has filled the gap in the international field of remote evaluation of smart electric meters and contributed Chinese wisdom to the innovation of global metrological management.
Relying on strong technical support, Tianjin has successfully upgraded the traditional "mandatory replacement upon expiration" model to a precision management model of "replacement on demand". Under this model, the intelligent management system will conduct regular "health checks" on all smart electric meters in the city, and automatically screen out electric meters with low health scores and risks of metering inaccuracy. For the "suspicious meters" identified through screening, the staff will conduct manual review and further confirm whether there is indeed a problem of inaccuracy through on-site testing and other methods. Only the meters that are confirmed to be really inaccurate will be scheduled for replacement; while the meters in good condition and with accurate metering will have their service life extended and continue to be "in service". Data shows that the accuracy rate of this model in determining inaccurate meters is as high as 98.57%, truly realizing "replacement only when necessary and precise replacement".
The implementation of the "inaccurate meter replacement" model has brought significant benefits in multiple dimensions. In terms of economic benefits, in Tianjin alone, this model has enabled 2.2 million electric meters in the city to achieve "extended service", directly saving about 660 million yuan. Based on this benefit calculation, after the national promotion of this model, it is expected to help the entire industry save tens of billions of yuan in costs every year, greatly reducing the operating pressure of power enterprises and injecting new vitality into the sustainable development of the power industry.
In terms of social benefits, the model reform has significantly enhanced the reliability of power supply of the power grid. Since it is no longer necessary to replace all expired meters, the frequency of meter replacement has been greatly reduced, and the impact of power outages caused by meter replacement has also been effectively reduced, realizing "seamless switching" for users. Whether residents are using electricity at home with peace of mind or enterprises are conducting stable production, they are no longer troubled by frequent power outages due to meter replacement. It has truly achieved "letting electricity wait for development, not development wait for electricity", and realized a win-win situation for users, enterprises, and the government.
In terms of ecological and environmental benefits, the "inaccurate meter replacement" model has also made outstanding contributions. Extending the service life of electric meters means reducing the demand for the production of new electric meters, thereby reducing the consumption of raw materials. Data shows that this model can reduce plastic consumption by 22,000 tons, metal consumption by 19,000 tons, and electronic waste generation by 11,000 tons every year. It provides strong support for China to reduce resource consumption, reduce environmental pollution, and help achieve the goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, demonstrating the concept of green development.
At present, the new "inaccurate meter replacement" model has fully covered the entire city of Tianjin and has been highly recognized by authoritative departments such as the State Administration for Market Regulation and the State Grid Corporation of China. This model has been included in the recommended mandatory verification methods for mandatory verification measuring instruments in China, and the pace of its national promotion has been accelerating. Many provinces and cities across the country, including Beijing, Henan, Shandong, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu, have successively introduced this model, and more and more regions and people are enjoying the dividends brought by the model innovation.
The relevant person in charge of Tianjin Institute of Metrology said that in the next step, the team will continue to deepen technological innovation and promote the expansion of the "inaccurate meter replacement" model from the field of civil metrology to more fields such as new energy vehicle charging piles and industrial electric energy meters. In the future, this model will give full play to the supporting and guarantee role of quality infrastructure, lay a solid foundation and empower the high-quality development of China and the modernization of the national governance system, and write a new chapter of precision governance and innovative development in more fields.
