Arduino and GSM Based Smart Energy Meter for Advanced Metering and Billing System

The aim of the project at proposing a system that will reduce the loss of power and revenue due to power thefts and other illegal activities. Power theft is the biggest problem in recent days which causes lot of loss to electricity boards. In countries like India, these situations are more often. If we can prevent these thefts we can save lot of power. This is done using Smart Energy Meter (SEM). SEM is an electric device having energy meter chip for measuring the electric energy consumed and a wireless protocol for data communication. This paper presents a smart energy meter for an automatic metering and billing system. The work system adopts a totally new concept of “Prepaid Electricity”. The GSM technology is used so that the consumer would receive messages about the consumption of power (in watts) and if it reaches the minimum amount, it would automatically alert the consumer to recharge. The feedback from the user helps in identifying the usages between authorized and unauthorized users which helps in controlling the power theft. This technology holds good for all electricity distribution companies, private communities, IT parks and self-containing housing projects. The implementation of this project will help in better energy management, conservation of energy and also in doing away with the unnecessary hassles over incorrect billing. The automated billing system will keep track of the real time consumption and will leave little scope for disagreement on consumption and billing.