Ghana’s southern power distribution, Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in the Tema Region, has replaced about 82,000 existing prepaid meters with Clou smart meters in the area.
The power distribution company started piloting the meter replacement project in December 2019 and fully rolled it out in January 2020.
It forms part of the company’s drive to continuously improve convenience for customers.
The new meters have a number of benefits among which are the ability to help customers track their energy consumption and to be able to buy credit using the ECG Power App for smart phones or dial *226# for non-smart phones.
The Regional Commercial Manager, Mr. Mawudoefia Dotse Hlorlewu indicated that these meters are being installed mainly at Afienya, Nungua, Tema Township and surrounding areas.
Speaking to the press, the Commercial Manager of ECG, Tema Region, said that vending points to serve customers have been commissioned at strategic locations where the project has taken off, adding that it would be extended to other communities as the project progressed.
He also indicated that the company strives to educate customers continuously on how these new meters work.
Mr. Hlorlewu further said that the uniqueness of the Clou prepayment system lies in the use of a keypad operator rather than a card which requires customers to insert or swipe to load credits.
He indicated that the meters are GPRS compliant so purchases are remotely credited to the meter either from the point of sale or through the ECG Power App.
Commenting, Ing. Emmanuel Appoe, the Regional Engineer, explained that the meters are individually linked to a separate user interface unit installed on the customer’s premises which can be used to manually operate the meter.
Ing. Appoe intimated that in the event where purchases are not remotely credited to the meter due to network challenges, the user interface can be used by customers to manually conclude the transaction using the token number on the purchase receipt generated at the vending point or via the ECG Power app.
Further touching on the technical qualities, Ing. Appoe mentioned that “these meters have the ability to cut off power whenever there are challenges with unstable voltages in the system…be it high or low.”
He added that should any customer try to tamper with the meter, it would cut off and ECG officials would immediately know that the meter had been tampered with.
On his part, the General Manager for ECG in the Tema Region, Ing. Emmanuel Akinie indicated that the Clou metering project would be extended to other parts of the region.
“We are going to systematically increase the penetration of Clou meters in the region but in phases,” he said, and added that collaboration would be mutually beneficial to the communities and the company.
He expressed delight at the successful take off of the project and thanked the traditional leadership and people in the communities for their support.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com