With service delivery being the main objective for utilities and municipalities, investing in the correct tools to accomplish the task is essential. Thus, selecting the best fit-for-purpose metering solution will ultimately grow revenue and improve service delivery.
Furthermore, the provision of water is a basic human right, while the provision of electricity is vital to enable a comfortable standard of living. The provision of both services requires a significant investment from the utility, typically billions of dollars. Electricity and water meters, therefore, become the ‘cash register’ of the utility, enabling return on investment.
The water and electricity metering market are an essential element to Africa’s development, and while value over cost is a consideration, the element of functionality adapted to local conditions requires careful consideration for a fit-for-purpose metering solution.
At Conlog, the company’s commitment to the domestic economy, coupled with African innovation, has enabled it to build and maintain a successful business to support utilities to achieve its purpose and development a stable ‘cash register’.
While metering, whether post or prepaid, has long been a gateway to revenue collection and management for utilities, anything that can impact the accuracy of a meter, or a subsequent bill will compromise revenue collection and protection in one way or another.
Compromising the ‘cash register’ of utilities includes errors in billing, inaccurate meter readings or outright tampering and theft.
It is vital to therefore ensure that the meter is as accurate, robust and reliable as possible; that it remains 100% functional; that vending is facilitated seamlessly; and that revenue management and protection operate in tandem, advises Conlog.
It is critical that utilities select a fit-for-purpose metering solution based on current and perceivable future requirements. Unfortunately, in many cases, the metering solution implemented is based on an excessive feature set promoted by service providers and not on the ability to provide the required functionality reliably.
It is also critical that the products or service provider selected have a proven history of providing products that perform reliably in the environment in which they will be deployed. Unfortunately, in working with the utilities, Conlog often sees feature-rich products from Asia and Europe that are unable to perform reliably in African conditions.
These feature-rich products are the result of market shifts from basic prepaid meters to smart meters. While the shift is clearly evident and necessary, it is the implementation of suitable solutions in local markets that falls short. Conlog advises that correctly implemented smart meters enable dynamic demand management and remote tamper detection – two features that are critical in managing the available grid capacity and r educing nontechnical losses.
Apart from the benefits to utilities, research has found that the implementation of smart metering devices, whether for the consumption of water or electricity, can promote consumer energy savings of 15-26% overall. One of the reasons is that smart meters illustrate the immediate consequence of one’s consumption.
Maintaining an acceptable level of meter connectivity has always been a challenge, considering the varying population densities and existing grid conditions. PLC technologies require a ‘low noise’ grid, whereas RF technologies require a well-regulated spectrum – both of which are difficult to achieve in developing economies.
Fortunately, connectivity is a technology segment that has seen significant growth across Africa, which is clearly evident in the speed and reach of internet access.
Within cellular communication technology, there have been several innovations in recent years. For example, Conlog is most excited about NB- IoT and LTE-M, two technologies which have been developed and rolled out precisely to enable machine-to-machine communications, which includes smart electricity and water meters.
As such, Conlog has adopted these technologies in their new line of products, which will enable simultaneous connectivity to tens of thousands of meters – perfect for large-scale demand response applications.
In another trend pushing market innovation, distributed energy resources (dominated by small-scale solar PV) and micro-grids have driven a change in specification of smart meters. Regarding this change, utilities are now challenged in replacing older generation electricity meters, that support the measurement of import energy only, with smart versions which can register bi-directional energy flow.
Meanwhile, water metering has its own set of challenges. Previous generations of mechanical water meters worked well if the quality of water was good, and the supply remained uninterrupted.
Unfortunately, these conditions do not exist in most developing countries. To combat the issues, Conlog is promoting the adoption of water meters utilising static measurement technologies.
This type of technology is unaffected by water quality and can differentiate between the flow of air or water and remain accurate throughout its lifetime.
Conlog has combined this water meter technology with a highly resilient electronic valve, which becomes the building block of a utility’s water demand management programme.
Conlog offers holistic solutions to utilities to improve efficiencies in energy management through their quality products and services. All their products meet and exceed the highest international standards, such as the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), and the Standard Transfer Specification (STS).
The company is established as a global leader in metering solutions for utilities, municipalities and property management companies, with a footprint spanning South Africa, South America, the Middle East and Africa at large, having sold to over 90 utilities that are benefiting from the company’s offering. Conlog has also installed over 10 million smart meters in households around the world, making them the largest installed base.
The company’s smart meters aid its customers in utility management, revenue protection, load management and demand management with a solid focus on big data analytics and smart city solutions.
Their engineering standards approach to manufacturing offers opportunities to elevate the quality of smart metering in South Africa, leading to economic growth and job creation. ESI
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