KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 9.1 million households across Peninsular Malaysia are expected to be equipped with a Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) smart electric meter by 2026.
Smart meter or Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) is an electronic device that records consumption of electricity, and communicates the information to TNB for monitoring and billing.
Energy Commission Industry Operations director Roslee Esman said a total of 300,000 smart meters have already been installed in Melaka between 2016 and 2018 under phase one of the Regulatory Period 2 (RP2).
In the second phase of RP2, he said TNB was planning to deploy the electronic device to 1.2 million customers in Klang Valley between this year and 2020.
"We have successfully set up the smart meter in Melaka. For this year until next year, we are targeting to install the meter for 1.2 million TNB consumers around the Klang Valley.
"The cost to install the meter in the RP2 (both phases) of this project is worth RM1.2 billion," he said at a media briefing session on the TNB smart meter installation here.
TNB Advanced Metering Infrastructure (network distribution department) project director Mohamed Ghous Ahmad said currently, they are still installing the necessary infrastructure around the Klang Valley.
He said the infrastructure in question involved the installation of radio frequency monopoles and putting in place a network system before the smart meter could be installed.
He added that some 200 radio frequency monopoles had been installed since April this year and another 740 such poles would be installed in the Klang Valley.
"We have yet to install the smart meter in the households here as we are still installing poles at designated locations and we also need to obtain a network system first before we can install the meter," he said.
Also present at the media briefing was Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Ministry (Mestecc) deputy secretary-general Noor Afifah Abdul Razak and TNB chief corporate officer Datuk Roslan Ab Rahman.
Meanwhile, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Wireless Communications Center expert and lecture Chua Tien Han dismissed fears that the smart meter would result in the emission of high levels of radiation.
"It is safe... it does not pose any danger. This is just a perception of the people," he said.
Noor Afifah, meanwhile, said the smart meter would indirectly boost the country's economy as it opens an investment opportunity to all companies nationwide, and at the same time create job opportunities.
She also said countries like the United States of America, United Kingdom, Singapore and Japan have installed such similar metres in their respective households.