Fluvius reaches 2.5 million smart meters milestone

Belgian distribution system operator (DSO) Fluvius has announced passing the 2.5 million milestone for smart electricity and gas meters in Flanders.

With this the smart meters are now installed in approximately 1.5 million homes in the region, amounting to approximately 40% of the market.

Of these about 500,000 families are recorded as actively using their energy consumption data on the mijn.fluvius (My Fluvius) web portal, where it is available on a 15-minute basis for electricity and hourly for gas.

Fluvius initiated the smart meter rollout in July 2019, ramping up the installation to achieve 1 million meters during the past year.

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For new constructions or renovations or for families who have solar panels fitted, the smart meters are installed by Fluvius technicians.

For the wider rollout in existing homes, Fluvius has contracted three companies, 3DM, Unit-T and TEAPlus, who are working on a municipality-by-municipality and street-by-street basis.

With the rollout well under way the number of My Fluvius users also more than doubled during the past year – a "clear sign that more and more Flemish people are actively working on their electricity and gas consumption", the company states.

Fluvius records a range of new capabilities that are offered by the smart meters. These include the automatic meter reading and availability of consumption data for customers, billing based on consumption, the option to link to apps and household appliances – with the user port activated for about 100,000 households to date.

The consumption data also can be made available to other providers for energy services and for example for the comparison of contracts with suppliers.

Fluvius is the sole DSO in Flanders. In addition to electricity and gas distribution, the company also is responsible for heat and waste water as well as all public lighting.

Among other activities, the company is targeting replacing all public lighting points with energy efficiency LED lamps by 2028.