The smart meter is an essential element in the energy transition underway. It will promote an increase of decentralised production facilities (e.g. photovoltaic panels), development of electric vehicles, while the use of fossil and nuclear fuels should decrease. It gives you flexibility that the traditional electromechanical meter does not allow by adapting to new ways of using the electrical network. 

With smart meters, you can monitor your energy consumption, adjust it and thus save money (e.g. by shifting your electricity consumption to favourable times). These meters will provide Sibelga with the information it needs to optimise the network and define its investments in order to guarantee your security of supply at all times. 

Moreover, with a few exceptions, all EU countries are deploying smart meters. By deploying smart meters, Sibelga is adapting to changes in the sector. 

• Better monitoring of your energy consumption (via the client port, also called Port P1): using a device to be connected to your meter and an app, you can visualise your consumption and use this information to optimise it. Want to know more?  www.maconsosouslaloupe.be  
• Measuring energy consumption and injection: you can become a prosumer without changing your meter. Tempted? www.sibelga.be/production
• Measurement of dual-rate electricity consumption. You can, on request, switch free of charge from single rate to dual rate while keeping the same meter.  

Remote actions (reading, opening, ...) are not yet activated. You will be notified when new services become available and you will have the choice to activate or deactivate them. These remote actions will simplify the life of our customers: they can be carried out quicker and always in strict compliance with the legal framework. 

In addition, in the future, the smart meter will allow you to access other services/offerings such as collective self-consumption, the use of dynamic rates or flexibility. 

• The smart meter is a digital meter that measures the energy drawn from the grid and the energy fed into the grid if you produce your own electricity (e.g. solar panels).  
• The meter is equipped with a client port, or Port P1, which gives you direct access to your power consumption in real time.
• The meter can communicate remotely with the grid operator. It then allows you to carry out certain procedures such as reading your indexes, opening or closing the meter, or changing its power, without disturbing you.

The P1 or client port is a standard connection port. With it, you connect to the meter via a reading device to:

• access your consumption (and injection) data in real time; 
• visualise this data with the help of appropriate software, on a smartphone or tablet for example;
• get advice on how to optimise your electricity consumption.

In the Brussels region, port P1 is activated by default. No steps are required to access it.

Find the range of peripherals and apps available on the market, at www.maconsosouslaloupe.be.

Several technical solutions exist. You can purchase a reading device commercially. 

Find the range of peripherals and apps available on the market at www.maconsosouslaloupe

The legal framework for smart meters is determined at the regional level by the update of 20 September 2018 of the Order of 19 July 2001 on the organisation of the electricity market in the Brussels-Capital Region and the Order of 01 April 2004 on the organisation of the gas market in the Brussels-Capital Region. 

Sibelga complies with this legislation.

No, according to the legislation in force, you cannot refuse the placement of the smart meter.

Yes, you can submit a work request for the placement of a smart meter. 

Currently, the smart meter is placed in the Brussels region: 

• in the case of major renovations to metering installations (e.g. work that requires the complete replacement of all meters located at the same address);
• for all new electrical connections;
• at new prosumer customers (e.g. solar panels);
• for customers with an electric vehicle;
• In case of specific projects (e.g. collective self-consumption, energy communities...).

Provided that the installation power does not exceed 56 kVA.

• If you ask for your meter to be replaced by a smart meter because you are becoming a prosumer, it is free.

The costs of smart meters are included in the distribution costs and are therefore distributed among all the inhabitants of Brussels, as was the case for electromechanical meters. 

Sibelga's cost-benefit analysis for Brussels shows that the benefits (e.g. lower energy consumption and costs for customers, process efficiencies, avoidance of large investments in the grid and mechanical meters) outweigh the costs of deploying, operating and maintaining the smart meter.

No, at the moment Sibelga is only installing smart electricity meters. 

CE marking is mandatory for smart meters, as for many other products sold in the EU. It proves that the product has been evaluated and that it meets European requirements in terms of safety, health and environmental protection. 

• The CE marking guarantees that the emission levels comply with the standards in force. 
• The meter uses the networks of mobile operators and the communicating module of the meters is comparable to the communication modules of mobile phones, with the difference that the distance between a mobile phone and the human body is on the order of 10 cm, whereas the distance between the meter and the human body is rather on the order of 10 m. This means that the power absorbed by the human body due to a smart meter is 10,000 times lower than that of a call with a mobile phone. The effect of a communicating meter could be compared with the effect caused by the mobile phone of a neighbour who lives in the house next door or on the floor above.

• Smart meters are MID (Measurement Instruments Directive 2014/32/EU) certified. 
• The smart meter meets the CE marking standards.
• The metrological characteristics of smart meters are checked by the manufacturer and by Sibelga, both accredited to carry out such checks, according to the ISO/IEC 17025 standard.

Sibelga complies with the GDPR legislation in force (read more at: www.sibelga.be/en/privacy)

No, not even if you agree to have your data read remotely in the future. 

No, not even if you agree to have your data read remotely in the future. Moreover, with all the programmable devices, your consumption is no longer necessarily linked to your presence at home.

• A security architecture has been defined, based on the same cryptographic techniques used in the banking world. 
• A security governance with a Security Officer and a Data Protection Officer and security-related procedures have been put in place.
• Sibelga complies with the GDPR legal framework, which lays down important principles for the protection of personal data.

• "Injection" indexes measure the energy you produce and do not consume. This energy is reinjected into the network (if you are a prosumer, with a photovoltaic panel installation, for example). 
• "Consumption" indexes measure the energy that is taken from the grid to supply power to you. 

The smart meter is needed to measure your withdrawals and injections separately, in order to be billed correctly. 

• If you have a smart meter, you will need to ask Sibelga to activate your injection registers administratively.
• If you have a traditional electromechanical meter, you must request a meter replacement. Sibelga will come and install a smart meter at your house. This replacement is free of charge.

• Via the client/port P1, you can have a real-time view of your withdrawals and injections at any time.  This data allows you to optimize your self-consumption. 

Find the range of peripherals and apps available on the market, at www.maconsosouslaloupe.be.

Press the green button to scroll through your consumption data.

Yes, meters are still read manually, taken by our meter readers under the existing plan (e.g. annual, monthly) or transmitted by you (by phone, mail or via our website).

Remote reading may be activated in the future, if you wish, and always in strict compliance with the legal framework. We will inform you as soon as this possibility is available.

The smart meter measures multiple indexes. For billing, the only 4 indexes to provide us are: 

• 1.8.1: daytime consumption in kWh
• 1.8.2: night-time consumption in kWh
• 2.8.1: daytime injection in kWh
• 2.8.2: night injection in kWh

For prosumers, the indexes of the last 2 records vary. For other clients, they do not change since there is no injection. When you read your meter, you will always have to inform us of these 4 indexes, even if you are billed at a single rate. In this case, the day and night consumption will be added together, and billed at a single rate. 

Other records exist, but are not useful for your energy bill.

At the moment, nothing is changing. 

The calculation of your consumption is based on the indexes read by our meter readers or on the indexes that you communicate to us by telephone, by mail or on the website. If we don't receive a reading, they are estimated.

Currently, no.

You will be informed when these services are available.

For the time being, the only communications made are maintenance communications necessary for the correct operation of the smart meter (software check, setting the meter clock, test of correct operation).

On the counter, above the display screen, below the bar code. 

This number identifies the meter. It is composed of:

• several numbers, 
• 3 letters identifying the meter brand,
• the letter E for "electricity".

For example: 40002110SAGE (for a Sagemcom electricity meter)

See our page www.sibelga.be/smart.

Yes, there are 2 types of smart meters:

• The three-phase/tetra-phase smart meter: this is the T-210-D. (www.sibelga.be/T210D)
• The single-phase smart meter is the S-210. (www.sibelga.be/S210)

Visit our website www.sibelga.be/smart or contact our Customer Service via www.sibelga.be/contact.

If the meter is closed: 

• You have no electricity; 
• The digital display of the meter does not show anything;
• The circuit breaker is placed downwards (in the green position).

As there is no consumption, the meter does not "count" in case of a power cut. On the other hand, it is equipped with a battery that allows to keep the consumption data already recorded and to keep the internal clock up to date in case of a power failure. 

No, your meter will start working again after the power outage. The indexes will pick up where they left off.

Reset the main circuit breaker that is located below or next to your meter.

Check the meter display screen. 

• If it displays "Press to reconnect", press the green button on the meter for more than 3 seconds. You will hear a click and you will be have power again.
• If it displays the indexes, a trip has taken place in the electrical panel. Make sure that all protective devices (differential and circuit breakers) are in the up position or contact an electrician.

If the outage affects several homes, it is probably a technical problem on the network. 

• Contact Sibelga's technical department (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) on 02 274 40 66. 
• Or go to the website www.sibelga.be/en/power-cuts

Subcontractors selected by Sibelga or Sibelga technicians. 

They are recognizable by their work equipment. They all have ID badges. 

Yes. The length of time when the power is off depends on the specific situation. We will notify you of the estimated duration of the interruption before the work is carried out.