A range of technologies from prepayment to advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) are appropriate for the Central American and Caribbean region, delegates to the recent 2nd Metering Central America & Caribbean event agreed.

The event, which took place in Bogotá, Colombia from April 28-30, was attended by more than 340 delegates from across the Latin American region, who came to strategise on next generation metering technologies for Central American and Caribbean utilities and to view in the exhibition technologies available for the region.

After two well attended pre-conference seminars on prepayment and automatic meter reading (AMR) the event was officially opened by Luis Eduardo Villamizar, secretary of energy in Colombia’s ministry of energy and mines, who reviewed the regional struggle against losses in electricity.

Following the opening debate on developments and direction in the region the program continued with regulation and standards, resource management for sustainable development, and a debate on energy efficiency as an unexploited resource. The second day of the event started with some interesting case studies of AMR implementations across the region and continued with discussions on advanced metering and smart grids and billing and customer service. The final, somewhat controversial, closing debate reviewed the role in technology in the region, making the case for both low tech and high tech options, from simple flat rate payment to AMI.

Metering Central America & Caribbean is now firmly established on the annual event calendar and planning is under way for next year’s third event.