News

Prepaid meters leads to decline in illegal electricity connections in Joburg

12 May 2016 By Alan

This is due to the local government introducing smart meters to half of the homes in the City of Joburg.

“More than half of the City Power electricity meters deployed in the City are now smart meters.

“This has resulted in a 13% increase in meter accuracy over the last three months‚ because the smart meters can be read remotely without the need to enter a property‚” said City of Joburg executive mayor‚ councillor Parks Tau.

“This is assisting the City of Johannesburg to ensure accurate metering and reduced estimation – which means lower costs and fewer frustrations for you‚ the citizen and paying customer‚” he said.

This would come as a relief for many‚ especially when considering that Soweto owed more than R10-billion to Eskom.

Tau said City Power billing queries older than 120 days were now resolved because focus teams had been set up to deal with logged calls at the contact centre.

He said the city had also come up innovations to minimise loadshedding.

“Smart meters‚ ripple controls and additional power generation from the Kelvin power station allowed us to actively mitigate load-shedding last winter.

Source: Prepaid meters leads to decline in illegal electricity connections in Joburg

Conlog celebrates 50 years of business

4 May 2016 By Alan

South African prepayment electricity meter specialist, Conlog, has celebrated 50-years in business. During the last five decades, the Durban-based business, which today is part of Schneider Electric, has founded groundbreaking technology, and made notable advancements in both the leadership position it holds within prepaid solutions and the systems its deploys to service the needs of utilities around the globe.

“Since the inception of the South African prepayment industry in the late 1980s, Conlog has been at the forefront of innovative solutions that meet the needs of utilities across the world. In fact, the majority of our revenue comes from outside South Africa’s borders,” says Conlog GM Dudley Miller.

Established in 1965 as an electronics design company, Conlog specialises in providing prepayment solutions for the delivery of electricity services. Its broad product offering encompasses prepayment meters, vending, revenue management, maintenance, support and consultation, as well as a dedicated and accredited training facility for all aspects of prepayment.

“This comprehensive and holistic approach enables customers to reap the full benefit of their investment and ensures sustained success, into the future,” Miller says.

He highlights that, at present, Conlog has the world’s largest installed base of prepaid meters, spanning more than 20 countries on four continents.

“Furthermore, over 70 utilities worldwide utilise our solutions and consider the company their preferred prepayment provider. With systems that are available in English, Arabic, French, Spanish and Portuguese, our products have been able to reach millions,” Miller adds.

The Conlog factory, which is located at head office, employs mainly women, and its engineering department boasts many experts in their relevant fields, including project management, embedded software engineering, hardware design, validation, mechanical engineering, systems engineering and research and development.

“Conlog engineers are well equipped with the knowledge and experience required to develop products that constantly outperform the rest,” Miller point out.

Many industry first have been developed by Conlog’s dedicated team at this site, including the standard for the secure transfer of credit, Standard Transfer Specification (STS), an IEC standard (62055-41); the industry’s standard wallbase for electricity meters; the common vending system and the first commercial scratch-card solution for prepayment….

Source: Conlog celebrates five decades in business | IT-Online

The way householders buy their energy has barely changed in decades

4 May 2016 By Alan

Most people rely on estimated bills, or have to peer into a dusty cupboard under the stairs to give an occasional reading – and that’s before we try to fathom out the foreign language of kilowatt hours and therms.

But change is finally coming. The energy sector is set to be revolutionised, as other markets have been through the impact of digital technology. A vital part of that transformation is the national roll-out of smart meters.

Smart meters are coming to every home and micro-business in Scotland by 2020, to replace old gas and electricity meters with digital technology. They’ll be installed at no additional cost by energy suppliers and they’ll allow customers to take control of their energy use by showing what is being spent on gas and electricity in pounds and pence, in near real-time. Smart meters mean accurate bills and no more estimates, as meter readings are sent directly to the provider via a secure, dedicated network.

In Scotland, in particular, the wider benefits will be significant. Smart meters are more than just a handy device; they will become essential enabling tools for tackling some of the biggest challenges that Scotland faces. ….

Source: Agenda: Benefits to be had from roll-out of smart meters are boundless (From Herald Scotland)

Eskom plans to install 140 000 prepaid meters in Soweto

4 May 2016 By Alan

Eskom says Soweto residents are starting to understand the relevance of prepaid electricity meters, adding that it plans to install 140,000 meters in the area, in the next three to five years.

Last year, community members took to the streets demanding engagement with the parastatal about the prepaid meters and a way forward in terms of dealing with the municipality’s R8 billion debt.

So far, 40,000 meters have been installed in the area….

Source: Soweto residents warming up to Eskom idea of prepaid meters

Eskom installs almost 6‚000 smart meters in Sandton and Midrand

28 April 2016 By Alan

Eskom has started installing smart meters in Sandton and Midrand‚ with 5‚932 meters installed between January and March this year.

The conversions of the meters to prepayment will resume in July‚ once Eskom has upgraded its online vending system‚ the power utility says.

Eskom has made a strategic decision to convert all of its conventionally billed customers to prepaid meters.

It says this project will enhance its revenue which is an important focus area to support its financial sustainability efforts.

“Customers are encouraged to convert from their conventional meters to the prepaid billing mode as it has several benefits such as improved reliability‚ reduction of public safety incidents and better management of energy consumption. More importantly‚ the days of billing errors will be a thing of the past‚” the electricity provider says.

In Sandton and Midrand‚ the plan is to have all 32‚885 of its domestic customers with smart meters installed and converted to prepaid meters by the end of the 2016/17 financial year.

“In Soweto we have installed over 40‚000 split prepaid meters and converted over 13‚000 to prepaid mode. Consequently‚ Eskom has already seen a R33.63-million improvement of revenue collection in Soweto after it installed and converted customers to split prepaid meters. The figure is cumulative from July 2014 up to 28 February 2016.”

Source: Eskom installs almost 6‚000 smart meters in Sandton and Midrand