"The agriculture sector accounts for 74% of the digital meters,” the Energy Ministry news portal Paven quoted Mansour Sotoudeh as saying.
Smart meters have also been installed for rural homes (10%), urban households (6%), industries (6%), livestock and poultry sector (3%) and miscellaneous services (1%).
“Installation of smart meters on wells helps control groundwater usage and prevents overconsumption and waste,” Financial Tribune quoted Sotoudeh as saying.
If any farmer draws more water than the amount specified for him/her from his well, electricity will be cut off automatically, and they will not be able to harvest water until water and electricity inspectors and check the consumption.
“Farmers are required to install the smart meters on their wells because it is a legal obligation,” he noted.
According to the Energy Ministry, the government-affiliated Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company (Tavanir) installed 307,000 smart meters for farmers last year in Tehran, Mashhad, Ahvaz, Zanjan and Isfahan.
A total of 400,000 old analog meters were replaced with digital gadgets in agricultural, household and commercial units in 2018.
Agricultural wells and industries are due to be equipped with the system before other sectors because of their high consumption.
One key issue in water management in Iran is the exploitation of groundwater resources. Sotoudeh said illegal water wells are being sealed in the province and farmers who draw water over and above the amount mentioned in their water permit will be penalized.
According to reports, there are almost 470,000 legal and 320,000 illegal wells in the country and every year an estimated 14,000 illegal wells are sealed.
Transforming traditional wells into smart wells has been on the agenda of the Energy Ministry and so far 10% of the wells have undergone the long-awaited transformation.
‘Smart’ or ‘intelligent’ wells are advanced wells with sensors and valves installed downhole to allow easy and constant monitoring by the utilities.