My experience with The World Bank Mongolia Second Energy Sector Project and smart meters

When I joined the World Bank two years ago, most of the projects I supported were in the middle of implementation or even at the completion stage. However, two projects were in pipeline, including Second Energy Sector Project (ESP II). 

June 2^nd of 2016 I got the chance to go to on a field trip to Erdenet city on ESP II Project to observe the Erdenet-Bulgan Electricity Distribution Network (EBEDN) and I passed, on the way, by Darkhan-Selenge electricity Distribution Network  with Peter Johansen  (Senior Energy Specialist, Task Team Leader), Yun Wu (Energy Specialist), Morgan Bazilian Lead Energy Specialist), Bernard Baratz (Environmental Safeguard Consultant), Reisha Jones (Social Safeguard Consultant), Chrisantha Ratnayake (Technical Consultant) and several people from the Study Team that the Ministry of Energy had appointed to help with the project mission team. Although the main goal of the field trip was to get acquainted with EBEDN, meet relevant officials and familiarize with the substations and the project area, the DSEDN caught my interest more with its smart meters.

  Let me give a very brief description of the Energy Sector Project II. The Project will include three components:

Component 1. Rehabilitation of Distribution Networks: 1.1 Upgrading Expansion of Baganuur-Southeastern Region Electricity Distribution Network(BSEDN), 1.2 Upgrade and Expansion of Erdenet-Bulgan Electricity Distribution Network (EBEDN) 1.3. Rehabilitation of switchgears in National Power Transmission Grid(NPTG); Component 2. Solar Power Plant will finance construction of a 10MW solar PV power plant in the Western Energy System; and Component 3. Capacity Building will cover project management, TA and trainings.

The field trip started early in the morning on the third of June. The distance from Ulaanbaatar to Erdenet is around 400 km.  As I have mentioned before, we bypassed Darkhan city. Although, the component to upgrade and expand DSEDN had been dropped, the team wanted to see the SMART meters in Darkhan and to be introduced to its outcomes.  DSEDN is a private company that had installed 11,913 smart meters at Darkhan city. This included all residents living in apartments and 25% of ger district.  “By switching from regular meters to smart meters Darkhan city had reduced Power loss from 21.34% to 5.52% and receivable from 102.9 million to 46.4 million tugriks”, said Mr. Erdenebat, Head of Engineering Department of DSEDN. As every Mongolian knows that power distribution loss is a big issue for every distribution company, smart meters made “Revolution” to this problem in Darkhan city.   Smart meters are connected to the Dispatch Monitoring System, where relevant officials can receive the most updated (updates every 1 sec) information of meters, including voltage, sub-stations load, parameter, indicators, etc. They enable two-way communication between the meter and the central system and can gather data for remote reporting. These smart meters have self-security systems that shuts down the meters when an external object is introduced, has ability to cut-off the load if it exceeds a pre-determined value and disconnect-reconnect remotely. These features thwart thieves trying to steal electricity by tampering with meters.

 

The main goal of passing by Darkhan city was to see how the smart meters work and to be introduced to the outcomes of it. Darkhan  is successfully running smart meters and, since it is managed by a private company, development actions had been taken into actions faster than state-owned companies. Since ESP II project component includes connecting 65,000 households to the smart meters, learning firsthand about the smart meters was very helpful.

 

After passing by DSEDN the team headed to Erdenet-Bulgan Electricity Distribution Network, where we had meetings with key engineers and the Director of EBEDN. EBEDN is conducting electricity distribution and supply activities for 65,400 customers of 114 soum centers of the 11 aimags, using 577 substations and 5523.6 km electricity networks. Unlike DSEDN, EBEDN is a public company where the Ministry of Energy owns 70% and the Ministry of Finance 30%.

 

In Erdenet, we were introduced to EBEDN’s operations, challenges and issues. We also observed a few substations and the land where the new substation will be built by the project.

 

Having no knowledge of the energy sector at all, getting to know the project by reading project documents was impossible. However, thanks to the energy team and the patient study team (I have been constantly asking questions), I got quite a good understanding of the overall energy sector.

Learning firsthand about Ulaanbaatar’s new bus system

On August 15, 2015, the new bus-route scheme started to provide service in Ulaanbaatar and I was lucky enough to have a field visit on the exact same date with the Urban Transport Team and get feedback from passengers. Eight months later I joined another field visit and I thought I would share my observations from both.

 

The objectives of the new bus-route scheme were to simplify and reduce the number of lines in UB City. The World Bank team did not create the new system or routes, but is advising the city.

 

What I saw last August was a little chaos at the bus stops, and almost half of all passengers were complaining about the new routes. While some passengers complained that the routes had only increased bus transfers of riders, others complained about the lack of prior announcement that the new routes were coming. Bus Drivers were the most unhappy people since their salaries had decreased more than 50% and conductors were left jobless as their jobs were replaced by machines. 

  

            The Korean- Mongolian consortium Ulaanbaatar Smart card had started operating the “U Money” card for electronic payment in buses from July 24^th of 2015. The UB bus fleet had been equipped with an on-board unit to accept payments via Smart Card, and by the time we had our fieldwork a month or so had passed. However, only 1 in 10 passengers were using Smart Cards at that time and the reason was that passengers couldn’t find the “U money” recharge kiosks (according to the feedback of a passenger).

 

I experienced this problem myself, as well. Since our team had been switching from one bus to another my money in the Smart Card had finished and I had to recharge it. The bus station where I was didn’t sell the “Smart card” money so I had to pay in cash to get to the next station. Unfortunately, the next station also didn’t have it. In this situation I had to pass several bus stops and come back to Bagshiin Deed, where I finally found the U Money Recharge Kiosk. 

 

Previously I had heard that transfers within 30 minutes would be at reduced fare but this still wasn’t available at the time of our field trip.

            And then, on April 26^th of 2016 I joined our Ulaanbaatar Sustainable Urban Transport Analytical Activity Mission Team on their Field Work for the second time. This time the team received much better feedback. The team was divided into three groups to take three different routes. I was on Team 3 with Yang Chen, Urban Transport Specialist, and Bat-Erdene, Consultant, taking the route from Zaisan to Suljmel and the other way around. Out of 18 passengers we interviewed 94% were giving positive comments on the new route and the “U Money” card. “It’s better to have the ‘U Money’ card since it’s hard to get the change back if you don’t have the exact amount of money” says a passenger. 72 % of the passengers has been using a smart card and it was definitely much more than on my last fieldwork.
 

           Everyone was happy with the new system but the driver. The driver was complaining about the system just like in August last year. Their salaries have been decreased and most of the drivers have resigned from their jobs to apply for better-paying jobs, such as a truck-driver in mining fields. The salary of the driver we interviewed used to be 1,800,000 tugriks and now it’s from 700,000 to 800,000 tugriks.  Another concern was the unavailability of monitoring cash receipts. Many passengers are not using the Smart Card, and without the support of the conductors, drivers are not available to check the amount of money passengers are putting in the cash box, located near the driver’s cabin. There are some passengers who tear the cash into two pieces and put it twice or don’t pay altogether. In the rush hours, when many people enter at the same time, some passengers sneak into the bus between the other passengers. I saw quite a few of them during my 94-minute-ride. The driver was also concerned that drunk people often get in the bus and make messes such as vomiting. Conductors used to not let them in,
but now the driver, working alone, cannot get off and deal with them.

  

The City Transportation Authority and the “Ulaanbaatar Smart Card” company have launched on a trial basis a new service called the “UB SMART BUS” application for android phones. The new app shows the public transport timetables, maps with the location of the bus stops and routes. However, only 18% of the passengers we reviewed, have been heard about it and half of them didn’t have a smart phone.

There had been improvements for the process of transferring passengers since August last year. When they get off, passengers placed their cards again at the reader at the back door and they transferred free to the next bus within 30 minutes, which seemed very convenient. I heard the card-reading machine say “Passenger Transferred” when a Transfer passenger got into the bus.

Overall, passengers seemed to have better understanding of the system this time on April 26^th, 2016, than on August 15, 2015. More people had Smart Cards and were using the transfer treats. The routes seem to be working fine and the passengers have gotten used to them.  I believe that people who are trying to get into the bus without paying or putting less money or even tearing the cash into two pieces will decrease as time passes when the economy gets better and when people get more virtuous. People need time to get used to something “New”.  As a citizen of UB City, I am personally very encouraged by the new system.

 

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank James Anderson for his courage to write my very first blog and his editorial suggestions. Yang Chen for sharing the outcomes of the survey and the Mongolia Urban Transport Team Arturo Ardila Gomez Gladys Frame Fatima Arroyo Arroyo Jean Paul Velez. 

I am sharing the April 26, 2016 Survey Outcomes below.

Date: April 26, 2016 Time: 3:20pm-5:20pm

 

Route #42 (Zaisan <-> Suljmel) Bus #29

Total number of passengers surveyed	18
Female	56%
Student	22%
Elderly	17%
Trip purpose
Commuting (work, or school)	61%
Family and social	17%
Fare collection
Using smart card	72%
Paying regular fare	61%
Satisfaction
Satisfied with the route	94%
Satisfied with smart card	93%
Bus information
Own a smart phone	55%
Have heard of the app for bus information	18%
Prefer bus information to be displayed at bus stops	50%