Croatia’s HEP to instal smart meters

Croatian state energy company Hrvatska Elektroprivreda (HEP) has launched a tender for the purchase of smart meters worth €86.5 million ($95.6 million).

The procurement, part of the distribution modernisation project co-funded by the European Union’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan, covers single and three-phase G3-PLC meters for households and businesses, data concentrators and multi-function meters for transformer stations.

Reports do not specify the number of meters involved, but the company’s plan is to install smart meters at almost 2.5 million metering points by 2029.

The procurement is due to be managed by the DSO, HEP-Operator Disitribucijskog Sustava (HEP-ODS) and covers four of its 21 distribution areas.

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These are centred around the capital Zagreb and the cities of Pula, Split and Osijek.

Serbia Energy News reports that in 2023 over 12% of households and 18% of businesses – all those with connection capacity greater than 20kW – were equipped with smart meters.

Together these correspond to about 16% of all metering points.

The news report states that HEP-ODS expects the modernisation to reduce operational costs, enable billing based on consumption and improve customer energy management with the availability of more detailed data.

The smart meter rollout follows an advanced network pilot, which ran between 2018 and 2022 and included the deployment of 24,000 smart meters as well as the replacement of transformers and installation of smart switching technology and other MV grid automation technologies.

The Balkan Energy Green News reports that Croatia’s distribution grid modernisation project is estimated at €286 million, of which €156 million is being funded as grants from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.