1

Implementation of Remote Meter Reading (RMR) in TNBfor

60 000 accounts Low Voltage Large Power Consumer (LVLPC)

2

Company Highlights

Company Profile

Organisational Structure

Key Shareholders

3

Statutory body established in 1949 responsible for the

Generation, Transmission, and Distribution and Retail of

electricity in Peninsular Malaysia and the state of Sabah

Other businesses include: -

Power-Related Services (O&M, R&M, Energy Services)

Electrical Equipment Manufacturing (Switchgears,

Transformers & Cables)

Higher Education & Research Services

Related Investments

Employee strength (TNB Group) as at August 31, 2010:

30,535

Number of customers (including SESB) as at August 31,

2010: 7.9 million

COMPANY PROFILE

Note:

1. Source: TNB Annual Report 2009

4

Corp.

Services

Board Committees

- Board Audit

- Board Fin. &

Inv

- Board Tender

- Board

Nomination &

Remuneration

- Board

Disciplinary

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

President/CEO

VP

GenerationVP Trans. VP Dist.

VP

PlanningCIO CPO

SGM Corp.

Services

VP Human

Resources

Core Business Enterprise Management

Board of

Directors

Chief Internal

AuditorBoard Committees

Company SecretaryManagement Committees

- Group Executive Council Committee

- Group Executive Management

Committee

- Group Management Tender Committee

- Group Risk Management Committee

- Energy Supply Committee

- Fuel Procurement Executive

Committee

VP Corporate

Affairs

VP Group

Finance/CFO

COO/ED

5

TNB IS A GOVERNMENT-LINKED COMPANY (GLC)

Note:

As at November 2009 (Source: Analyst Briefing 1Q FY2010)

1 Khazanah Nasional Berhad 37.77

2 Employees Provident Fund (EPF) 14.27

3 Kumpulan Wang Persaraan 2.50

4 Skim Amanah Saham Bumiputera 9.39

5 Other Corporations and Govt. Agencies 20.37

Subtotal 84.30

7 Foreign Shareholders 9.35

8 Malaysian Public 6.35

Total 100.00

Name of Shareholders Percentage

6

GENERATION INSTALLED CAPACITY IN THE PENINSULAR

MALAYSIA GRID

IPPs hold 47% of the

total generation installed

capacity

The Government

inventiveness IPPs

through bankable PPAs

Future generation

capacity augmentation

will be based on

Competitive Bidding

Notes:

1. KEV (60% TNB holding), Janamanjung (100% TNB holding)

2. Malakoff, PD Power, YTL Power, TTPC, Genting Sanyen, Powertek, Jimah Energy

FY2010 Installed Capacity (MW)

Total : 21,809 MW

Other IPPs

10,280 MW

47.2%

TNB

9,109 MW

41.8%

KEV

2,420 MW

11.1%

7

GRID SYSTEM AND

MAJOR GENERATING

STATIONS

IN PENINSULAR

MALAYSIA

8

NUMBER OF CONSUMERS AND SALES OF ELECTRICITY FY2010 (PENINSULAR MALAYSIA)

Source: TNB Annual Report 2009, Distibution Finance FY2009

Total Number of Consumers:

7,860,418Units Sold: 95,196.6 GWh

Sales Revenue: RM 30,320.1 million

Domestic

18%

Domestic

83%

Commercial

39.6%

Industrial

39.4%

Industrial

0.4%Commercial

16%Domestic

20.4%

Commercial

33%

Industrial

43.3%

Sales (GWh) Revenue (RM)

No. of Customers

9

TNB’S GENERATION CAPACITY

The Generation Division of TNB operates

thermal and hydro power plants

Thermal : 7,199 MW1

Hydro : 1,911 MW

Total Capacity : 9,110 MW

Generation sales in FY2009 = 39,368 GWh

Plant types operated:

• Open Cycle Gas Turbines

• Combined-Cycle Gas Turbines

• Conventional Thermal Plants (Firing

On Oil, Gas and Coal)

• Hydro Power Plants

All power plants certified MS ISO 9001 & MS

ISO 14001Notes:

1 – Includes Janamanjung (100% TNB holding), excludes KEV (60% TNB holding)

10

Key Objectives of Remote Meter Reading in TNB

To Increase Accuracy and efficiency of Billing

Accurate Billing data

Eliminate human error

Data Retrieval Success as of July 2011 – 99.29%

To Protect Revenue

Identify Metering System Irregularity incidents example Fuse Blow, Meter faulty

Identify Theft Of Electricity (TOE) cases

To Obtain Electricity Consumption pattern (Load Profile)

Utilize for load research/ planning/profiling by other departments / divisions

11

Implementation of RMR Projects in TNB

Project Description Metering Points/

Customers

Comm. Medium Status

RMR for PMU/Power Station/IPP/Interconnection

865 metering points

TNB Fiber Network/PLC/

GSM

Completed in Jan 06

RMR Pilot Project

(MV & LV CT Customers in Metro)

1400

Customers

Wavenet (wireless 413-423 MHz)

Completed

in Jan 06

RMR Phase 1

(HV/MV Customers)

2869

Customers

GSM Completed

in Jun 06

RMR Phase 2

(LV CT Customers)

42,000

Customers

GSM Completed in Nov 2008

RMR Phase 2B

(LV CT Customers)

18,000

Customers

GPRS Starts in June 2011

12

RMR System Architecture In TNB

Overview

System Configuration at DPC & DRC

Service Modem and Dialers

Communication Connectivity

Sample of GPRS/ GSM Modems

Installation at Site

13

OVERVIEW OF SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE

APPLICATION SERVER

TNB DISASTER RECOVERY CENTER

REGIONAL OFFICE

RMR Interface Software

PRI PREMIER

ACTARIS

GENIUS Mk6

GSM/GPRS NETWORK

GSM modem &

accessories

100 Mb

1GB

eCIBSBilling Application

RMR Data Center

TNB DATA CENTRE

DATABASE SERVER

14

RMR SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE DPC and

DRC (IEE 5.3 SP18)

RMR SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE SERVICE MODE &

DIALER SERVERS

COMMUNICATION CONNECTIVITY OVERVIEW (GSM)

17

SAMPLE OF GPRS/GSM MODEMS

Brand EDMI Actaris PRI

Modem

18

MODEM INSTALLATION AT CUSTOMER PREMISE

Sample of modem installation at site

Meter type: EDMI MK6

Modem: Inside meter cover

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Key Objective # 1

To Increase Accuracy and efficiency of Billing

No Application/ Procedure Description

1 TNB billing system (eCIBS) enhancement of Customer

Information Billing System and SAP

platform

2 Billing Date Billing reset date of all RMR

customer on 1st of the month

3 Billing Duration Billing duration is from 1st – 3rd of the

month

4 Billable register Only 3 billable register

5 Non billable register 14 non billable registers

(depending on meter type)

For validation and analysis

6 Type of meter EDMI MK6, ITRON SL7K and PRI

PRIMIER

BILLING IN TNB (RMR)

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RMR AUTO BILL – PROCESS FLOW

· Daily updates : Customer

information (DRM)

· Monthly updates : Request for

billing (DRB)

· Pickup and process DRM as

and when received from eCIBS

· End of the month, Pickup and

process DRB and create data

driven into 5 batches

· Key in date/time - each of data driven

· Meter reading in xml format and auto export to EIS server

TNB BILLING

SYSTEM (eCIBS)

INTERFACE

SOFTWARE

(ENCODER

INTERFACE

SYSTEM, EIS)

IEE

· Process xml, validate data and

generate reading file based on

eCIBS file format (URB) if meter

reading is available and valid.

· If not will create exceptional

report (IR file) on the 3rd day

of billing date

· Process URB files and bills

generated

· Process IR Files and generate

exceptional report

XML Config Files

(Recall until 3rd

day of billing date)

DRM/DRB URB/IR FILES DRE

XML READING

FILES

XML CONFIG

FILES

22

RMR BILLING SUCCESS

Sep-10 Oct-10 Nov-10 Dec-10 Jan-11 Feb-11 Mar-11 Apr-11 May-11 Jun-11 Jul-11% Success call against

Billing request98.10% 98.27% 98.10% 98.14% 98.82% 99.14% 99.39% 99.38% 99.29% 99.45% 99.29%

% Success call against Billing request

98.10%

98.27%

98.14%

98.82%

99.14%

99.39% 99.38%99.29%

99.45%

99.29%

98.10%

97.23%

97.44%

97.65%

97.86%

98.07%

98.28%

98.49%

98.70%

98.91%

99.12%

99.33%

99.54%

99.75%

Sep-10 Oct-10 Nov-10 Dec-10 Jan-11 Feb-11 Mar-11 Apr-11 May-11 Jun-11 Jul-11

% Success call against Billing request

23

Key Objective # 2

To Protect Revenue

No Type of Abnormality Description

1 Phase Voltage Absence One or more phases without voltage

supply

2 Reverse Energy Detection of negative flow energy by the

meter (Theft/COGEN)

3 Incorrect Phase Rotation Connection of voltage or current circuit is

incorrect

4 Unbalance Load Power is unbalance among the 3 phases

5 Battery Failure Backup battery Voltage is low

6 Clock Failure The meter clock is faulty

7 Magnetic Tampering Meter is experiencing very high magnetic

field

8 Meter Cover Open Cover of the meter is being OPENED

ABNORMALITIES DETECTION

LOSSES RECOVERY STATUS FY10/11 – 429 cases detected and solved

PERCENTAGE OF NTL DETECTED

Average Total

Account

Generated (%)

Average Total

Account

Filtered/Validated

(%)

Average Total

Account Visited/

Investigated (%)

Average

No Case

(%)

Average Total

NTL Detected

(%)

33% 1% 89% 33% 67%

No Type of Abnormality Criteria

1 Phase Voltage Absence Voltage value gone below 180V (75%) of

nominal voltage 240V.

2 Reverse Energy Interval Channel 1 (KW EXP) is more than

5KW/daily.

3 Incorrect Phase Rotation Phase rotation of RBY is detected.

4 Unbalance Load Voltage/ Current/ Power of the 3 phases

are not balance.

5 Battery Failure Voltage level of the auxiliary battery is

less than 2.7V.

6 Clock Failure The meter clock is faulty

7 Magnetic Tampering Meter under tampering of 500mT magnet.

8 Meter Cover Open Meter cover is opened in order to change

the component inside it.

MANUAL FILTERED/VALIDATED PARAMETER

27

Key Objective #3To Obtain Consumption pattern

No Internal user ( within TNB ) /

External customer (End

Customer)

Purpose

1 Internal user - Revenue

Maximization Department (RMD)

Load profile study to identify cases of

suspected electricity theft

2 Internal user - Group Finance Load profile for planning and tariff study

3 Internal user - TNB Research Development of Auto identification of

suspected electricity theft based on A.I

technology

4 Internal user - Generation,

Transmission and Distribution

Loses

To calculate monthly GTD losses

5 Internal user - Energy

Procurement Department

Energy settlement between Independent

Power Producer and Interconnection

border meter (Thailand/Singapore)

6 External USER - End Customer Load pattern analysis. Currently based on

customer request

LOAD PROFILE DATA REQUEST

CUSTOMER CARE TO END CUSTOMER

Internet

Apps 1

Apps 2

Apps 3

Apps 4

Database

Server

TNB NetworkPublic Network

Customers

Customers

Customers

Customers

Customers Internet Security

Acceleration Server

30

Internal UserLoad Profile

FULL SCALE ePROFILE ARCHITECTURE

eProfileData Warehouse

(MPP Technology)

Layer 1 : IEE Copy

Dashboard

Layer 2 : Customer, Meter, Register

Layer 3 : Grouping, e.g Regional, Business

70% Compressed

IEE

1-Year

Data Sources eProfile Front-End Apps

eProfile App

• Data processing every

5Min

• Delay update 1hour for

reading / 1 day for

master data

• No processing during

billing run

Extraction & Others

ExternalLoad Profile

Portal

http://eprofile.tnb.com.my

Web Service

http://eprofile.tnb.com.my/wsl

CRM/

eCIBS

IEE Clients (Display)

AMI

31

Challenges

No Issue Resolution

1 Difficulty to identify meter status

calls

Develop tools to identify status of calls by

account and meter

2 Frequent planned downtime -

Oracle Database maintenance

• Monthly task on comm log purge

• Quarterly job on DB reorg

3 Longer backup time - no data

archiving function available in

IEE

• Monthly comm log purge

• Communicate/discuss with Itron on

workaround

4 To identify root cause of failure

meters whether due to IEE,

communication or meter

TNB uses tools (Failure analysis) based

on data from IEE comm log, diva log

(PRI card log) and xml file

5 Data mismatch between IEE and

billing system

Develop tools to identify data mismatch

as and when received configuration file

from billing system

OPERATIONAL CHALLENGES – DATA & IT RELATED

No Issue Resolution

1 Unavailability of person in charge

for site maintenance

Proper coordination with regional staff

2 Premise closed Proper coordination with regional staff

and end customer

3 Change of tenancy Relocate to new site and update list for

asset tracking on modem installation

OPERATIONAL CHALLENGES – SITE

No Issue Resolution

1 Low signal - outskirts, basement Forward the list to service provider and

they will do upgrade work to burst the

signal

2 Limitation of number of channel

(old equipment)

Replacement of old equipments have

been carried out during the project

implementation

OPERATIONAL CHALLENGES - COMMUNICATION

No Issue Description

1 Configuration/

Functionality

a. Pervasive DB not updated (MM,CM,RM) or takes time to

update.

b. Complexity on meter swap function – many meter brand

and number of channel not unique

c. Replication on SM/dialers not available (TNB policy is to

have duplicate setting for DR)

d. Data archiving is not available and TNB policy is to kept

data up to 7 years

e. Load unbalance at Service Mode (manual)

f. Stability of Itron’s services – frequent restart Itron’s

services

2 Reporting a. Extended event code is not in the event report.

b. Sometime communication log delayed. Impact is on

activation takes more than 30 minutes

c. Missing Interval Report – no option to select by group

and cannot run if more than 1000 SP

3 Monitoring a. Task monitor statistic cannot be used to identify status

on meters

b. Validation queue – not user friendly where can’t export to

excel or copy/paste function

OPERATIONAL CHALLENGES – MDM SYSTEM ON IEE ver 5.3

36

Enhancement of RMR System

No Project Description

1 DR for Service

Mode and

Dialers

Objective is for full redundancy for all RMR

infrastructure

Project mode only one set of SMs and dialers

RMR categorized as critical 4

Challenge to synchronize data between production and

DR

2 Technical

Refresh

To replace existing hardware with new hardware

IEE version upgrade

Data archiving

3 RMR tester RMR technicians developed gadget to detect status of meter

comm. port for site maintenance

IN HOUSE PROJECT

No Issue Considerations and challenges

1 IEE version

upgrade

Auto replication between production and disaster

recovery for SMs/Dialers

Simplify on adding account/service point in IEE

Complexity of meter swap

Data migration from ver 5.3 to ver 7

2 New hardware Real Application Cluster (RAC) technology or non-RAC

technology

Hardware design for PR, DR and staging environment

3 Data archiving ICT policy :

1 year data within 0.5 sec

Data within 7 years data in 3 min

Data older than 7 years period (best efford)

TECHNICAL REFRESH (IEE VERSION UPGRADE) -

CONSIDERATIONS AND CHALLENGES

39

RMR TESTER – IMPROVES TEAM PRODUCTIVITY

MULTIMETER

BEFORE

TO MEASURE DC VOLT TAKES 20 MIN PER 1 METER

AFTER

TO MEASURE DC VOLT TAKES 6 MIN PER 1 METER

(DIFFERENT - 14 MIN)

6 MIN

COMM.PORT METER TEST

TIM

E (

MIN

)

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

BEFO

RE

20

AFTER

RMR TESTER

39

20 MIN

40

Additional Benefit

No Issue Description

1 Email billing Objective is to ensure customer receive their bill on time

RMR customer will receive bill through email.

Once bill is ready in billing system it will automatic email

to customer

Optional to customer

2 intelligence

Metering

Irregularities

Detection

Software

(iMIDS)

Objective is to automate listing of suspected list on NTL

cases

By Research Department

AI concept – source from load profile and meter event

ADDITIONAL BENEFIT

42

ICT Support

SUPPORT STRUCTURE : JAN 2011

Report &

Escalation

Via CMS

TNBD RMR Operation

Itron3rd

Level

2nd

Level

1st

Level

End Users

&

Application

ICT RMR Application Support Unit ICT Infra Operation Support

ICT Service Desk

Incidents

Change Requests Request ID

Reassign

Incidents

(Non-ICT)

Incidents Incidents

Problems

Problems

Change Requests

Incidents

TNB RMR User

Problems

Change Requests

Incidents

RMR system owner (backend software/hardware) – ERP

Business Owner – Metering Services

44

Conclusion

Achieve all key objectives as below:

To Increase Accuracy and efficiency of Billing

To Protect Revenue

To Obtain Electricity Consumption pattern (Load Profile)

45

Way Forward

Advance Metering Infrastructure (AMI)

Trial for 1000 account

Single Phase and 3 Phase consumer

11 features to be included in AMI

RMR for Ordinary Power Consumer (OPC)

3 Phase Whole Current consumer

Targeted another 200k consumer and priority to High Risk Customer (HRC)

THANK YOU