The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) will soon begin the installation of a modern Meter Management System to integrate the company’s Smart pre-paid metering platforms.
The Meter Management System was commissioned and officially handed over by Millennium Development Authority (MiDA).
It is expected to address power theft.
The advanced multimeter system allows for interoperability across different metering systems.
MiDA CEO, Martin Eson-Benjamin, in a speech, said 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.
It will enable meter manufacturers and ECG to reduce the cost of providing metering services.
It will in turn make it easier for prepaid customers of ECG to purchase credit anywhere within ECG’s operational area, he said.
As the system provides timely information on how customers are using electricity, it will also report a faulty meter that provides inaccurate billing information.
The Board Chairman of ECG Keli Gadzekpo, on his part, emphasized the need for all metering systems to come on stream to be able to work with ECG as a meter supplier.
According to the chairman, 12 out of 21 prepaid meter types have been enrolled onto the MMS System, with others programmed to join in phases.
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.
The System can cover some five million ECG customers.
MiDA is an implementing agency for Ghana Power Compact II, a US Government program.
The project forms part of the US$316 million Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)-funded Ghana Power Compact II.
By Annie Wharton Savage.