Tonga will be the first country in the Pacific region to have a network that can remotely read both water and electricity meters, to be installed at a cost of $8.94 million pa'anga.

The President of Itron Global Trading, Gavin Van Tonder, introduced Smart Meter Technology to Tonga at the Tanoa Dateline Hotel on 10 May 2017. The American company is the developer and the owner of Smart Meter Technology.

Tonga Power will replace their electricity meters throughout Tongatapu with 15,000 new Smart Meters. The change over to the new Smart Metering will take two years at a cost of $6.34 million pa’anga. It will also take a year for the Tonga Water Board to complete the change over in 8000 meters at a cost of $2.6 million.

Gavin believes that Tonga has made the right decision, taking into account that the proper management of water and electricity resources is fundamental to life in the islands.

“The only way that we can do that is to accurately measure the consumption of the resources, monitor them and take measured action when the issues and problems occur,” he said.

Sione Tutula Finau, the acting CEO of the Tonga Water Board, said the Smart Meter with its remote reading capability was originally planned for Tonga Power only, but because of the reform in the board of directors of public enterprises the Tonga Power and the Water Board come under the Commons Utilities Board. This means that the Tonga Water Board will also replace existing water meters in the Nuku’alofa area with 8000 Smart Water Meters.

It will take a year for the Tonga Water Board to complete the change over at a cost of $2.6 million.

The reading and the monitoring of the Water and Electricity meters will be from a central point. Gavin explained that the new meters can be read remotely, and they can be connected and disconnected when required.

He said that Tonga will be the leader in the Pacific with the Smart Island concept.

“When we do our release in the New York Stock Market, people will hear what we are doing here . . . I am really impressed with what Tonga is doing here today."

“Together we will make this a great success, I’ll make sure of it.”