Romania’s Retele Electrice DSOs launch 300,000 smart meter tender

The new tender forms part of the ongoing smart meter rollout for the three Retele Electrice DSOs, which together have over 1.5 million end points installed.

The new tender, with a value of €24.25 million ($26.2 million), is for up to about 300,000 smart meters, with a minimum volume of 120,000 units, for delivery over one year.

The tender includes smart meters of both single-phase and three-phase direct types as well as fully equipped data concentrators and they must use the Meters & More communication protocol.

“The resilience of networks and the digitalisation of energy infrastructure are our priorities, and smart meters are important elements in the energy circuit that help us provide customers with the necessary tools on the road to energy transition,” says Mihai Pest, general manager of the Rețele Electrice companies.

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“The resilient networks of the future, which will operate digitally to integrate both localised generation sources, such as prosumers, and new types of electrified consumption, such as electric vehicles, are based on smart meters.”

The three DSOs, Rețele Electrice Muntenia, Rețele Electrice Banat and Rețele Electrice Dobrogea (previously E-Distributie Muntenia, Banat and Dobrogea) launched their smart meter rollouts in their three respective regions, which together cover about a third of the country’s distribution market, in 2015.

At the end of 2023, the over 1.5 million installed base was comprised of approximately 713,000 units in the Muntenia region in the south, which includes the capital Bucharest, 436,000 in the Banat region in the west and 376,000 in the Dobrogea region in the southeast.

Under a decision by the Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE), in the period 2019 to 2028 when the full national rollout is targeted, Rețele Electrice Muntenia is required to instal a total of 775,405 smart meters, Rețele Electrice Banat 488,727 smart meters and Rețele Electrice Dobrogea 411,466 smart meters.

According to the latest ACER-CEER retail market review, the smart meter penetration in Romania at the end of 2022 was less than 20%.

Alongside the smart meter rollout, the three Rețele Electrice DSOs are undertaking initiatives to modernise the medium and low voltage grids.

Included in the just completed first stage is the implementation of a cloud analytics platform for managing and processing the smart meter data and opening up its access to customers to monitor and manage their consumption.