The Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), an implementing agency for Ghana Power Compact II, has commissioned and officially handed over a modern Meter Management System (MMS) to integrate the Electricity Company of Ghana’s (ECG) Smart pre-paid metering platforms to enhance the customer experience to the management of ECG at the company’s projects office at Kwame Nkrumah Circle, a suburb of Accra, capital of Ghana.
The total cost of the system is US$15,892,800, with Miss contributing US$11,189,901.
The project forms part of the US$316 million Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)-funded Ghana Power Compact II.
The MCC is an agency of the United States Government.
The MMS System will enable ECG customers connected to the system and be able to buy pre-paid credits anywhere in Ghana and be credited in real-time.
It will also make significant contributions towards improving the ECG’s revenue mobilisation efforts while offering customers greater flexibility in paying for the electricity they consume, even when they travel outside their regions.
“The Meter Management System was specifically requested by ECG as a solution to current challenges with multiple meter types, procured from a variety of meter vendors, none of which could communicate with the other,'” said Prof Yaa Ntiamoah-Baidu, the MiDA Board Chairman, in a speech read on her behalf by Martin Eson-Benjamin, the MiDA CEO.
She also stated that “the mix of activities under the ECG Financial and Operational Turnaround (EFOT) Project is intended to reduce revenue losses and under-billing and ensure that ECG recovers its operational costs and invests in maintenance and expansion, without additional financial support from the government.”
The System can cover some five million ECG customers.
The Meter Management System comprises 17 Servers in six racks, 40 Point-of-Sale devices, UPSs, laptops, printers, which have been delivered to two Sites; the ECG Project Office and the ECG Legon District Office.
At the moment, 12 prepaid meter types have been enrolled onto the MMS System, with others programmed to join in phases.
The state-of-the-art system, supplied and installed by Messrs. Siemens SA, is equipped with full redundancy, a backup that will enable the System to run at all times.
It has a Primary Site and a Disaster Recovery Site with an online real-time backup capability.
“The MMS System would make a big impact on ECG’s revenue collection efforts,” said Keli Gadzekpo, the Board Chairman of ECG.
The Country Director of Millennium Challenge Corporation, Mr Steven Marma said: “The US$316 million MCC Ghana Power Compact is the U.S. Government’s down payment on a brighter future for Ghana, and the completion of the Multimeter Management System is an important milestone for the Compact Programme.
“The MMS is an IT investment that lays the foundation for improved customer service and revenue mobilisation, modernize ECG’s operations and improves service delivery to everyday Ghanaian citizens. MCC looks forward to ECG’s continued rollout of the system across all regions under ECG operations,” he added.
The Deputy Minister for Energy, Andrew Agyapa Mercer, who spoke on behalf of the Minister for Energy, noted that “as part of the government’s policy pursuits for the electricity distribution sub-sector, we are desirous of strengthening the electricity distribution system to enhance competitive electricity supply and retail services for the ultimate benefit of the consumer.”
He agreed that the Meter Management System “is, undoubtedly, one of the key solutions to the myriad of challenges” ECG currently faces.
Source: https:// energynewsafrica.com