Brazil’s Copel reaches 1 million smart meters milestone in Paraná

Brazilian utility Copel has reported reaching the mark of 1 million smart meters installed in homes in 119 municipalities in various regions of Paraná state.

The rollout, part of Copel’s smart grid programme, foresees the installation of 1.7 million smart meters by the end of 2025.

So far, the rollout has covered the southwest and centre-south regions of Paraná, including the metropolitan region of the state capital Curitiba and the Ilha do Mel island just off the coast.

The next phase is focussed on 50 municipalities in the west of the state, with around 661,000 homes set for smart meters.

Have you read?
DLMS UA partners with Cobei on open standards in Brazil
Meet the woman who sees the energy transition in 3D

“The smart electric grid is a watershed in energy management in Paraná,” says Marco Villela, general director of Copel Distribuição, commenting that the smart meters are transforming the way energy is monitored and consumed.

“Not only did we modernise the infrastructure, but we delivered to the consumer a powerful tool for control and savings. It is Copel investing in state-of-the-art technology to offer the best in electricity distribution.”

Among the benefits are the remote reading and accurate billing and more rapid awareness of failures and their location and the dispatch of field teams for repair and restoration.

Customers also are able to access their consumption information in real-time via the Copel mobile app.

With the automatic transmission of the meter data, Copel also has adopted digital billing with municipalities where this has been initiated so far recording up to 95% take up by customers.

Copel estimates that through reduced electricity losses and truck rolls, since the start of the programme in Paraná in 2018, more than 400t of CO2 has been avoided.

Copel, which serves 11 million customers throughout Paraná, has planned a record R$2.5 billion (US$0.4 billion) investment in its distribution networks in 2025.