Schneider eyes DEDDIE project for digital electricity meters

Schneider Electric contacted Greek power grid manager DEDDIE on Monday to express its interest in the replacement of the approximately 7.5 million conventional electricity meters in Greece with smart ones, in a project totaling 1.5 billion euros.

The company, which is a pioneer in the digital transformation of energy management and is already cooperating with the Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator (DEDDIE) in other projects, is now waiting for DEDDIE to announce the details regarding its tender for a smart meter project in which it will be participating.

As Spiros Raptis, the managing director of Schneider Electric Greece and Cyprus, revealed on Monday, talks with DEDDIE have already taken place in the context of the grid operator’s contacts with firms in the sector so as to confirm market interest and form the model through which the smart meter project will proceed.

Among the scenarios on the table are the implementation of the project via private funds, by means of a public-private partnership, and the search for a strategic investor. The most likely scenario, presented in late April to the board of Public Power Corporation, provides for the creation of a subsidiary to which the existing analogue meters will be passed on, and then the entry into that entity of a strategic investor with a 49 percent stake so as to ensure the financing of the project.

Replacing the analogue meters with digital ones will allow for the management of energy both by the grid operator and by consumers, while efficiently dealing with the problem of electricity theft for good.

Schneider Electric recently installed an energy management system in the network of Italian power giant Enel, which has led to savings of some 30 percent.