Abstract:
The immense increase in the electricity demand has created a crisis in Sri Lanka,
particularly during the night-time peak. Demand-side management is a strategy
used by electricity utilities that aims to persuade consumers to alter their energy
consumption behaviour during peak times, and energy monitoring is therefore
crucial to the success of this effort. Due to poor monitoring capacity and lagging
behind the regional technological norms, the Sri Lankan context made it
necessary to introduce smart meter technology among domestic consumers. The
study focuses on identifying the prospective barriers and bottlenecks for the
implementation of identifying barriers and bottlenecks for implementing smart
meters in the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB). The exploratory qualitative case
study method was used as the study design, and primary data was collected by
conducting semi-structured in-depth interviews. The study sample comprises
12 industry experts from CEB and the regulatory body. Thematic analysis is used
as the primary data analysis tool. Inconsistency of national policy, poor IT
Infrastructure, lack of top management contribution, regulatory barriers,
financial restraints and organizational culture were revealed as significant
barriers to the results and further categorized into three dimensions:
technological, organizational and government involvement and policy support.
The study highlights the importance of presenting reliable and accurate data and
statistics to establish government policies, increase individual job engagement,
develop a performance-oriented culture and collaborate with information
industry institutions.
