IOT Based Energy Meter with Current,

Voltage and Cost Monitoring.

Musiyiwa Leo Singai R174726Z

Abstract
Electricity is one of the fundamental necessities of human beings, which is commonly used for domestic, industrial and
agricultural purposes. Power theft is the biggest problem in recent days which causes lot of loss to electricity boards. In
developing countries like Zimbabwe, 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. In this meter energy utilized and the corresponding amount will be displayed on the LCD
continuously and communicated to the controlling base station. The feedback from the user helps in identifying the usages
between authorized and unauthorized users which helps in controlling the power theft. Communication between
user/household and substation is done using ESP32 Microcontroller. This meter can work as either prepaid or post-paid meter.
The proposed system replaces traditional meter reading methods and enables remote access of existing energy meter by the
energy provider. Also they can monitor the meter readings regularly without the person visiting each house.

Keywords-Smart Energy Meter (SEM), Automatic Meter Reading(AMR), Internet of Things(IoT).

1.Introduction
The energy consumption can be monitored by
using an electric device called energy meter. The
cost and the regular usage of Power consumption are
informed to the user to overcome high bill usage.
The Energy meter shows the amount of units
consumed and transfers the data to both the customer
and to the electrical board so this helps in reducing
man-power. The user can check their Power usage
from anywhere and at any time interval. The IoT is
used to Turn on/off the household appliances using
relay and microcontroller interfacing. The objective
of this system is to monitor the amount of electricity
consumed. The distributer and the consumer both
will be benefitted by eventually reducing the total
power consumption.
By L. S. Musiyiwa (student registration number:
R174726Z, email: leomusiyi@gmail.com), University of
Zimbabwe, Department of Electrical Engineering This
project was supervised By Mr T. C. Njenda And
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of
the BSc Hons Degree in Electrical Engineering .
2.Problem Statement
The power board have got used to the manual
billing procedure and they oblige it despite the fact
that there are numerous worries combined with it.
In light of the human blunders in the wake of getting
staff charge, it is the issue of client to get yet
adjusted from the vitality supply board. All things
considered client needs to visit the workplace,
remain in line and get it rectified. The issue is a
result of human intercession. To maintain a
strategic distance from human mistakes in the
building procedure, in this new age a programmed
perusing meter perusing framework came in to the
existence.
3.Aim
This project aims to design and implement a smart
meter that help consumers stay fully informed about
their daily energy use and eliminate wasteful
routines or get rid of the inefficient appliance. For
utility companies, the real-time visibility into
energy consumption process translates into accurate
billing data and ability to balance demand against
supply via flexible pricing and other policies. With
the IoT platform, smart meters can be easily
implemented to support these and many other smart
grid features.
4.Objectives
 To provide automated meter reading over an
immediate basis.
 To use the electricity in an optimized manner
 To reduce the human efforts, and to cut the
power automatically if the bill is not paid.
 To enhance overall digitalization of the power
engineering enterprises.
 To avoid the possibility of hacking the system,
and basically, taking free electricity.
 To ensure near-real-time visualization and
profiling from the smart grid.
 To prevent meter tempering

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Literature Review
Anitha et al., [1] proposed “Smart energy meter
surveillance using IoT” about IoT, internet of things
as an emerging field and IoT based devices have
created a revolution in electronics and IT. The
foremost objective of this project is to create
awareness about energy consumption and. efficient
use of home appliances for energy savings. Due to
manual work, existing electricity billing system has
major drawbacks. This system will give the
information on meter reading, power cut when
power consumption exceeds beyond the specified
limit using IoT. The Arduino esp8266 micro
controller is programmed toper form the objectives
with the help of GSM module. It is proposed to
overcome all the disadvantages in the already
existing energy meter. All the details are sent to the
consumer’s mobile through the IoT and the GSM
module and it is also displayed in the LCD. It is a
time savings and it helps to eliminate the human
interference using IoT. Devadhanishini et al., [2]
“Smart Power Monitoring Using IoT” that energy
Consumption is the very important and challenging
issue. Automatic Electrical Energy meter is used in
large electric energy distribution system. The
integration of the Arduino WIFI and SMS provides
the system as Smart Power Monitoring system.
Smart energy meter provides data for optimization
and lessthe power consumption. This system also
includes a motion sensor such that if there is no
human in house or house it will automatically turn
off the power supply. Mohammed Hosseiu et al., [3]
presented a paper titled “Design and implementation
of smart meter using IoT” describing the growth of
IoT and digital technology. The future energy grid
needs to be implemented in a distributed topology
that can dynamically absorb different energy
sources. IoT can be utilized for various applications
of the smart grid consisting power consumption,
smart meter, electric power demand side
management and various area of energy production.
In this paper, the Smart Energy Metering(SEM) is
explained as the main purpose of SEM is necessary
for collecting information on energy consumption of
household appliances and monitor the
environmental parameters and provide the required
services to home users.
Himanshu K Patel et al., [4] demonstrated “Arduino
based smart energy meter” that removes human
intervention in meter readings and bill generation
thereby reducing the error that usually causes in
India. The system consists the provision of sending
an SMS to user for update on energy consumption
along with final bill generation along with the
freedom of reload via SMS. The disconnection of
power supply on demand or due to pending dues was
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implemented using a relay. The system employs
GSM for bidirectional communication.
Koay et al., [8] explained "Design and
implementation of Bluetooth energy meter"
described around the year 2004, digital meter has
started to replace the electromechanical meters
in Singapore. A wireless digital power meter would
offer greater convenience to the meter reading task.
Bluetooth technology is a possible wireless solution
to this issue. The power reader can collect the power
consumption reading from the energy meter
wirelessly based on Bluetooth. Two methods that
can retrieve the meter reading with little human
intervention, are added and implemented in the
targeted applications, they are Automatic meter
reading(AMR) and the Automatic polling
mechanism(APM). Some commercial applications
are applied for the Bluetooth-enabled energy
meter.
Methodology
Hardware
Investigate the efficient smart energy meter design.
 Investigate the reliable means of connecting to
the internet.
 Design and make the appropriate transformer.
 Test sensor voltage and amperage.
 Test meter power, flow rate and power rating.
 Confirm synchronisation of website data and
meter data on the LCD data.
Software
The Rational Unified Process was used as the base
methodology to design and manage the steps
towards executing the development process. The
Rational Unified Process is a Software Engineering
Process. It provides a structured approach to
responsibilities and assigning tasks within a
development organisation. Its aim is to make sure
that production of high-quality software meets the
needs of the end-users, within an anticipated budget
and schedule. This process encourages the following
principles in software development:
 Develop software iteratively
 Use component-based architectures
 Control software changes
 Visual software model
 Verification of software quality
 Manage requirements
 6.IoT Based Energy Meter
REGULATED
POWER SUPPLY

LIQUID
RELAY CRYSTAL
DISPLAY (LCD)

CURRENT &
VOLTAGE LED
SENSOR

CURRENT
MICROCON
TROLLER BUZZER
ESP32
LOAD MODULE

Figure 1:Rational Unified Process MODEM

MAINS
In addition to the procedures outlined by the SUPPLY

MAX 232
Rational Unified software development process
model, the following methods were also
incorporated into the development process to better
match the needs of this project. VOLTAGE

1. Literature Review
Figure 2:Hardware Block Diagram
Information sources include but are not limited to
textbooks, journals, research papers and technical The size of IoT based meters and traditional meters
manuals. In addition, extensive use of online is same and smart meters are digital. IoT based
resources to get the latest development trends, energy meter measures more detailed readings than
security vulnerabilities information and best Kwhr so that utility can plan the expansion of
practices. network and power quality.
2. Consultation with Supervisor The IoT based Energy Meter is designed so that it
Regularly meeting with the project supervisor to
measures voltage and date it’s currents by the use
receive guidance and suggestions
of voltage and current sensors instead of potential
3. Consultation with experienced software
and current transformers and then feeds these
development experts
Consulting developers within the faculty or values of voltage and current into power factor
university or receiving assistance through online controller IC and energy metering IC calculates the
software discussion forums like Stack Overflow and power factor and power respectively.
Code Ranch
4. Iterative Development
5. Data Collection and System analysis

5.Flows in Conventional Billing

There are many flaws and errors in conventional
billing. Some human mistakes may also occur in
manual billing. Analysing the conventional billing
some of the common observed errors and mistakes
are:
• There is always a chance of human error while
taking the manual meter reading.
• There is no check and balance and verification
procedure of this meter reading.
• There is always a chance of theft and
corruption.
• Extra human power is required. Figure 3:Complete Design
• Consumer is not updated of his usage.
The design of IoT based Energy Meter involves the
• Consumer may not get the bill slip within due measuring of load current and voltage using sensors
date. and then feeding them to energy metering IC which
• It’s a time consuming procedure converts it into the real power consumed by the load.
Power factor is measured by measuring the phase
shift between voltage and load current.

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Microcontroller used to perform the calculations
related to power and energy consumed and shows
the reading on LCD as well as it sends the reading
of IoT based Energy Meter with the help of the
ESP32 Module. Power, voltage, load current, power
factor and units (kWh) are measured and displayed
successfully. Meter reading are sent from the
Microcontroller to the cloud where they can be
viewed through the website and is also displayed on
the meter itself via an LCD. Two-way
communication is done by IoT based energy meter
between the meter and utility administration as well
as between meter and customer so that customer is
able to check the status of his consumed energy units
and can manage his load accordingly to reduce his
bill.
The main features of smart energy meter are listed
as follows;
 Get automatic reading of Energy Meter and sent
it to consumer as well as to utility.
 In reading it measures Voltage, Load Current,
power, Power factor and units consumed.
 Utility is able to cut off/restore the supply of the
The reading from Utility administration is being
received by smart energy meter programmable
interface and the action is performed by the meter
according to provided information.
A major feature of Energy Meter is that utility
company can cut off and reconnect the connection
of energy of any user with the help of the Website
without sending the person to perform the task
manually [6]. It can be utilized in case when the
utility company needs to disconnect a consumer due
to non-payment of bills or some other reasons.
Another major feature of energy meter is that it
gives alarm when the consumer load is exceeding
the upper limit for which he got the utility
connection or when the units are running low. In
case consumer does not reduce his load meter
automatically cut off the consumer connection. IOT
based communications network is used to transfer
the electricity consumed data to the utility
administration as well as to the customer when
demanded.
START

defaulter through the Website.

 Measuring energy meter reading any time we
want in real time through the use of Website. IDLE /STANDBY NO
IS
POWER YES
CHECKS
SYSTEM

 Consumer is able to check the status of his load ON? FAULTS

from anywhere in the world. YES

YES
7.Working of IoT Based Energy Meter ALERT THE USER

IoT based communications network is used to

transfer the electricity consumed data to the utility
CHECKS UNITS
administration as well as to the customer when DETECTS
LOW YES IN THE NO
UNITS METER
demanded. Smart metering communication is
centralized meter reading, so meter readers don’t
NO ALERT THE
need to visit each customer for data collection. UNITS USER
YES
However, for testing and maintenance meters may ALERT THE
USER
need to be observed occasionally. The main duty of YES

Energy Meter is to measure the meter reading and

THE SYSTEME
sends it to utility when demand as well as to OPERATES WELL
SHUTDOWN

costumer. The voltage and current sensors measure

the RMS values of voltage and current and feed them
to microcontroller, where calculations for active and
reactive power are performed. In Smart Energy
Meter we used sensors to measure voltage and
current instead of current and voltage transformers.
Figure 5:Flow Diagram
8.Main Parts of IoT Based Energy Meter
Smart Energy Meter is comprised of two main
parts:
A. Voltage and current measurements
B. Power factor measurements

A. Voltage and current measurements.

In this work, a current and voltage sensor is used to
measure voltage and load current. We used PZEM
004t as current sensor that gives us RMS value of
currents. Both AC and DC signals current
measurement is precisely obtained by this current
sensor. Current is measured by this sensor up to
20A. Overall power consumption, metering and
measurements are taken by these sensors. Sensitive
Figure 4:Proteus Simulation

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measurements of current are handled by using
OPAMP stage. By adjusting the gain, we measure
very small currents-20A output voltage has linear
variation with measured currents. Similarly, we
measured voltage by PZEM 004t.
Sinewave of voltage and current and showing the
phase shift difference between voltage and current.
Square wave of voltage and current and their
resultant after XOR operation.
B. Power factor measurements.
Power factor is the cosine of angle between voltage
and current. It actually measures how effectively the
power is being converted into useful work. In our
project we measured it by taking XOR of voltage
and current waves with the help of microcontroller
and LM358. We used LM 358 to convert weak
sinusoidal signals to large square signals.
After XOR we get signal of double frequency as
shown in figure above. We calculated the time of
XOR signal and it is the power factor. For 50Hz the
output of XOR can be 10 ms if power factor is 0.
And “0” if power factor is unity. So the output of
XOR lies between 0 -1 for a certain value of power
factor.
Advantages
 More efficient transmission of electricity.
 Quicker restoration of electricity after power
disturbances.
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 Reduced operations and management costs for
utilities, and ultimately lower power costs for
consumers.
 Time saving technology.
 Tamper detection to reduce electricity theft.
 Energy saving robust and reliable smart
sensors/actuators.
Disadvantages
 Exposure of sensitive customer data.
 Connectivity to untrustworthy partners that
cannot be selected.
 Exposure of critical infrastructure due to
connectivity reasons.
 Introducing malicious software, compromised
hardware could result in denial of service or
security threats.
 Biggest concern: Privacy and Security.
 Some types of meters can be hacked.
Application
 Society
 Industry
9. Software and User Interface
The UI design was divided into 3 tiers: top tier,
middle tier and lower tier.
Top tier - This is for dividing the screen into distinct
sections which will be used for different purposes. It
divides the viewing area into 5 sections which are:
Header, Main Content, Bottom Bar, and Right side
bar.
Middle tier - This tier implements the header,
bottom bars and the side bars for the 5 different
sections (home, dashboard, statistics, about and log
out). This is because the contents of these areas are
constant no matter which section of the application
is being used. The navigation bar has the
notifications and account settings while the side bars
have links to help pages and banner notifications
Lower tier – This implements the main content
section of the page. This area is unique to every
function of the application being used.
Figure 6:The designed UI
To ensure a better understanding of the system
functionality and scope, Use case analysis was
performed. This involved analysing all possible
tasks that may need to be completed by the users of
the system and presenting the summary
diagrammatically as use case diagrams. This
ensured easier and more accurate modelling of the
system. This analysis is also critical in later making
critical design decisions because it clarifies
important capabilities required to be implemented
by the system.
10.Testing and Results
The accuracy of IoT based Energy Meter is checked
by comparing the readings that are displayed on the
LCD of SEM and that displayed on the Website. IoT
Energy Meter is also checked by connecting and
disconnecting the customer’s connection. We
connected different loads 10W, 8W, and 5W and
checked its performance.
Figure 7:System Testing, 8W Load
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11.Conclussion
The project describes the design, implementation
and working of an IoT Based Smart Energy Meter
and also represents how Smart Energy Meter
(SEM) can be used for Automatic Meter Reading.
It is a very economical implementation to be
developed in this era of technology. With the
present enhancement in the use of technology to
facilitate mankind, it is an efficient and practical
utilization of present networks. This paper also
shows how customers can manage the load by using
Smart Energy Meters and hence promote optimized
usage of energy. The design provides an easy way
of taking the meter readings, accuracy, detection of
faulty conditions, power factor calculation, less
operation cost and removal of possible corruption
related to meter reading.
11.Future Recommendations
I thought there are few possibilities which can also
be done on this project in future as I have provided
flexibility in the project especially in controller
section. The future research should include the
proper methodology for measuring the power factor
of the load.
Recommendations for future are as follows:
• Power factor must be measured by different
techniques.
• Smart energy Meter can be modified for the
detection of illegal use of electricity.
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