Determination of Energy Consumption for NonPrepaid Metered Electricity Consumers using GSM Technology

Mobile communication system advances daily that they can be applied for automatic reporting of faulty equipment over a long distance. The aim of this research work is to assists the Distribution Companies (DISCOs) in Nigeria in keeping an accurate record of hours a transformer in a feeder supplies power to the consumers. This is achieved by ensuring that the operational state of transformers in the distribution network is known at all times, with the developed system automatically reporting any distribution transformer trip to the Distribution System Operator (DSO). The records, in turn, help DISCOs in monthly energy consumption calculation and billing for non-prepaid metered (estimated-billed) electricity consumers, using the correct total number of hours that power is supplied to them in a month. This work comprises a 12V DC power supply unit, voltage sensor unit, controller unit, GSM module, and LCD unit. The controller unit is the ATMEGA328P microcontroller with its instruction set written in C- language. It was observed that the developed system could automatically report a transformer trip to DSO, who then takes a daily record of the total number of hours the transformer is energized in that month and with that value, accurate monthly energy consumption values for non-prepaid metered (estimated-billed) consumers can be calculated and processed