Anyline Enchants the Energy Industry within the Digital World
Ebin Thomas
Account Executive at Anyline
The reduction of such non-technical losses is an absolute necessity for every utility in the world, as they burden the development of the company and of society as a whole. For this reason, leading utilities are partnering with pioneering tech innovators to develop solutions that can alleviate these problems using cutting edge artificial intelligence.
In tandem with the WKO – the Austrian chamber of commerce – Anyline held a webinar to talk about new technology, and in particular how AI-based optical character recognition (OCR) meter reading solutions can help utility companies with their data capture processes.
How OCR meter reading works
Artificial intelligence-based OCR can be used for more automated meter reading by allowing utility companies to equip workers with any smart device that has a camera. With this device, workers can scan meters within seconds, eliminating the possibility of errors. By scanning the meter’s barcode and/or serial number first, the system ensures the correct meter is being read. Once the device’s camera scans the meter, the data is read and sent securely to the utility company’s server.
There are a number of benefits to AI-enabled OCR technology, including:
- Accuracy – Anyline’s OCR technology guarantees a 99 percent accuracy rate, meaning that it is almost impossible for a utility worker or a customer to make a mistake during the meter reading process.
- Time savings – With automated meter scanning and reading, workers can scan meters faster, which reduces the labor intensiveness of the meter reading process. Anyline’s OCR technology scans 20 times faster than manual meter reading, resulting in a decrease of working hours traditionally spent on the process.
Why OCR meter reading reduces NTLs
While there are solutions to reduce energy fraud available, like the deployment of smart meters, it often implies a massive investment over several years. OCR meter reading technology can be integrated into utility processes within a few weeks and doesn’t require investment in hardware.
But how does Anyline meter reading reduce NTLs and fraud? This technology is paired with meter barcode and serial number scanning, and whenever a meter is scanned, a picture of the reading as well as the location and time of the reading are saved. All of this information can be used as proof that the correct meters are being scanned with the right value, reducing the possibility for fraud to happen.
