(Electrical India, Vol. 48, No. 6, June 2008, p. 47)
The advancements in the field of information technology enhance its utility towards electrical energy monitoring and billing. Usage of Embedded systems, and VLSI (very large scale integration) is enormous in this field. The electricity billing is no more inferior to adopt IT tools. The installation cost may be high, but after adopting these tools the benefits like low running cost; absence of theft and pilferage, will be utilized by both service providers and consumers. The SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) will help in the easy monitoring and control of electrical distribution through wireless communication.
In developed countries these IT tools have already been incorporated for the monitoring and control of electrical energy and electrical distribution is totally automated there. Now the developing countries like India, are realizing the benefits of automation and adopting these IT tools step-by-step - starting from the urban areas. And, as in the 21st century, manufacturing methods for meters and relays are completely electronic, this will enhance further to easily adopt SCADA and Remote control.
There are mainly two major recent advancements in energy metering and billing: 1) Telemetry of Electrical Energy 2) Prepaid/Postpaid electricity system.
