The Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCO) is set to replace existing postpaid and non-smart pre-payment meters with new smart meters for its customers in the Upper East operational area.
The over 15,000 new Hexing Smart Pre-Payment Meters will be deployed in phases across the entire operational area within a period of time.
According to the power distribution company, the new smart meters which is already being installed in some areas in the upper east region will enable consumers to have absolute control over their energy consumption.
Speaking in an interview with GBC-TV monitored by dreamzfmonline.com, the upper east regional Billing and Revenue Protection Officer William Asare said the introduction of the new Hexing Smart Pre-Payment Meters is a game changer which will bring service delivery to the door step of their customers.
He explained that the new meter has superior advantages over the existing postpaid and non-smart pre-payment meters because it allows for convenient purchase of power using interoperability platforms such as mobile money.
“When you buy the power, the power is loaded remotely onto our meter, it is instant. When you buy the power, you are given a 20-digit code and so assuming there is a challenge with the network and the power is not loaded remotely, you go to your house and just load the 20-digit code via your CIU and you are gone,” he explained.
Mr. Asare stressed that the new meters will allow the officials of NEDCO to address customer challenges in real time because it has a feature that allows it to be accessed and its status checked by the click of a button.
“I can read and know the status of the meter and send the solution to the meter remotely. So, you can sit in front of me and I can resolve the complaint without asking somebody to follow you to the house to check and come back,” he added.
The exercise to replace existing meters with the smart new meters has commenced in some areas in Bolgatanga including Tindomolgo and will subsequently cover Tindonsobligo, SSNIT Affordables and Kalbeo.
He assured that customers whose meters will be replaced will not lose their existing credit balance at the time of the replacement as all available credit will be transferred in real time onto the new meter after installation.
How does the New Hexing Smart Pre-Payment Meter Work?
The meter comes with a card which displays the meter number (to be safely kept by the customer). The number is required for power purchase, so the customer is advised to keep the number safely in memory or on a device such as a mobile phone to allow for easy recall.
It has the capacity to reset for billing purposes, so irrespective of how much money the customer puts on it, the meter only bills on a monthly cycle based on the actual monthly consumption. In this case, the customer can buy more credit than actually needed in a month.
At an earmarked low credit threshold of Ghc10, both the meter and the CIU/UIU signal by beeping regularly and also, the credit balance displayed LED light turns from green to block red; this is a caution that the customer is running out of credit. By punching “813” on the CIU/UIU, the beep can be stopped as the customer proceeds to use the remaining credit on the meter and reload later.
Credit balance can be checked by entering “801” on the CIU/UIU device which will be mounted at an accessible space for the customer. Several other details can be checked on the meter through the CIU/UIU at the convenience of the customer.
Meanwhile, beyond the warning described as a beep when running low on credit, the meter automatically cuts power supply to the customer when credit falls to Ghc5.00 which serves as a final warning. However, the customer can restore power by punching “813” on the CIU/UIU to reboot the meter and to use the remaining credit or load more credit. The next warning which will be received upon failure to reload credit will be a permanent cut signaling that credit has been exhausted.
However, notwithstanding the cautions and subsequent cut of power supply, the new Hexing smart pre-payment meter allows the customer to borrow credit up to Gh10.00 by punching “811” on the CIU/UIU. The borrowed credit will be deducted upon next power purchase.
