Wireless Transmission of Energy Meter Data

The main purpose of our project is to develop an automatic data transmission system. In order for the consumer to avoid having to pay the wrong amount which frequently occurs due to erroneously generated inflated bills, the generation of an electricity bill must be done with care. The conventional system still in use has people appointed by the MSEDCL for taking the photos of the energy meter readings. This process is time consuming and tedious. These readings are then collected at the MSEB Office where a bill is generated according to the reading on the photo. We have proposed a new system in order to avoid the mistakes generated due to human error while either taking the photos or entering the data to calculate the amount to be paid. This system consists of a basic 8051 microcontroller which will count the number of LED pulses coming from the energy meter and which are used as an indication of the amount of electricity consumed. A MAX 232 converts the signal from the microcontroller to RS232 level understood by the computer and is transmitted wirelessly by an RF ZigBee transmitter to its receiver which in turn wirelessly transmits the data to a GSM module and a computer. This enables us to send an SMS containing the units consumed along with the amount to be paid, to the consumers according to a unique customer ID assigned to each household or business. A bill is also generated with the data received by the computer using Visual Basic. The main advantage of using this new system is that the human interference is eliminated by transmitting the necessary readings 824 Ms. Rhea R. Kudchadker and Ms. Noopur S. Sirmokadam wirelessly. It will also provide the customer with the ability to cross check the readings of their monthly energy meter reading with the one that is printed on the bill.