By Martin Ekpeke
Pan-African Information and Communications Technology company, CWG Plc said it has developed smart meters that would aid the energy distribution companies in Nigeria generate additional revenues apart from the normal power tariff.
Apart from generating additional revenues, the smart meters, according to CWG will prevent energy theft and help restructure the hitherto dilapidating infrastructure presently owned by the DISCOS.
The DISCOS can take advantage of the embedded features in the smart meter to huge additional revenue, as that is the standard in other climes
Making a presentation at a seminar CWG organized in partnership with the Nigeria Information Technology Reporter’s Association (NITRA) in Lagos, The Group Chief Executive Officer of CWG Plc, Mr. James Agada described the present situation with the DISCOS as a vicious cycle of unsustainability.
He noted that the present situation is laced with financially unhealthy utilities, which makes the GENCOs unviable with poor distribution networks, leading to customers who are unwilling to pay for tariffs as a result of poor satisfaction.
“Today, what we are seeing is a huge metering gap, resulting in estimated billing by the DISCOs, customers are refusing to pay estimated bills fully, DISCO’s have significant debt and are unable to raise financing and meter vendors are unable to raise finance as banks have no confidence in DISCOs ability to pay,” he said.
These challenges, according to him have rendered the DISCOs redundant as they are not able or willing to pay for energy supplied by GENCOs. But with the CWG’s smart meter solution, which comes with high speed 4G LTE Modem + Wi-Fi Router inbuilt into the CIU for wireless Internet Access, Agada noted will bring about healthy utilities, energy theft prevention and increased revenue for the DISCOs.
The present situation with the DISCOS is laced with financially unhealthy utilities, which makes the GENCOs unviable with poor distribution networks, leading to customers who are unwilling to pay for tariffs as a result of poor satisfaction
He argued that like the Telcos, the DISCOs have the infrastructure across Nigeria that will visibly make them make more revenue. “We take into cognizance the fact that the DISCOS have the last mile infrastructure, so we have embedded into the smart meter, high speed 4G LTE Modem + Wi-Fi Router that would generate additional for them,” he added.
The CWG metering systems are also embedded with a remote OFF/ON switch for electric supply line, mobile and web based token recharge with manual option as a failsafe measure and web based dashboard view and control of the energy consumption.
Also speaking, the Vice President, Corporate Development at CWG Plc, Mr. Daniel Shoban-Das emphasized that the DISCOS can take advantage of the embedded features in the smart meter to huge additional revenue, as that is the standard in other climes.
Das explained that the high speed 4G LTE modem inbuilt into the DT Meter for data logging with the remote server, also comes with a current measurement range of 1700 Amperes using Rogowski Coils. “The meter is intrinsically safe –no danger of an open circuit secondary and is capable of taking an overload current of more than 100,000A without damage,” he said.