MontevideoGas Will Install Smart Meters to Record Its Customers' Consumption

We worked with the natural gas distributor of the Uruguayan capital to modernize its consumption monitoring and metering system, implementing a smarter solution that is safer, more reliable, and more convenient for end users.

Context

MontevideoGas is a pipeline natural gas distribution company. With over 170 years of history, it was a pioneer of this service in Latin America.

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

The Project

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

In the first phase, 2,250 standard meters will be replaced with the new devices in households across Montevideo, in the neighborhoods of Prado, Pocitos, Centro, and Malvin (among others), prioritizing locations with difficult access (those where recording consumption requires entering the interior of homes or courtyards).

What Benefits Does This Transformation Bring?

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

From the perspective of MontevideoGas, compared to traditional meters, smart meters provide the assurance of always having an accurate consumption reading, thereby eliminating consumption estimates.

Additionally, by replacing manual on-site consumption readings (since the new system receives information automatically), data is collected accurately and reliably, eliminating the possibility of errors caused by human intervention, such as incorrect readings or erroneous data entry.

Another advantage is that smart meters have the ability to detect service failures (such as high-flow leaks) or meter tampering attempts as soon as they occur, ensuring greater supply security.

For customers, this upgrade will offer the possibility of achieving 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 greater control over their energy expenditure and, therefore, save money. Furthermore, more efficient gas usage reduces the carbon footprint.

Another benefit is convenience: under the previous system, the customer had to be present at home for the MontevideoGas meter reader to visit and record the meter reading. If this did not happen, the customer had to call to report the value or an estimated one was applied, which did not always reflect actual consumption.

What Impact Will This Project Have on Operations and Customer Relations?

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

One of the issues they aim to address involves billing based on estimated consumption: "One of the factors that month after month required requesting readings from those customers, sending inspectors, etc., will be eliminated." Palazzi adds that they plan to "use the granularity of the information to offer new services that are 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 operations, this project "will represent an improvement in the safety of our personnel, since entering homes involves certain specific risks (such as dog bites, for example)," Palazzi concluded.

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