Using prepayment for revenue assurance: Prepayment remote metering pilot project results

1. Using prepayment for revenue assurance: Prepayment remote metering pilot project results Edison Makwarela

2. Presentation Layout • History of prepayment in Eskom (SA) • Current challenges • Pilot Project • Results of the Pilot Project • Future direction

3. History of Prepayment in Eskom • 1988 -"Electricity for All" concept developed. • customers had to be supported by the smallest amount of Eskom personnel. • system to operate with a low level of management and maintenance. • the standard billed system required a lot of day-to day management to process accounts and to maintain connections and disconnections. • many of the areas where potential customers reside had almost no infrastructure.

4. History of Prepayment in Eskom (continued) • no fixed addresses, high unemployment, no bank accounts and no postal services • many customers were illiterate and did not understand bills • Eskom started the development of the basic prepayment system which is still in use today • about 3 million prepaid meters installed to date in South Africa. • increasing by 250 000 annually.

5. Challenges with current system • ±3 million meters installed in Eskom • after installation meters are never visited except: • customer calls/maintenance • for general audits (2-3 years cycle) • tampered meters are not easily detected • access to installed meters is not always possible • no means of communicating with meters in the field • cannot interrogate meters remotely • cannot disable possible tampered meters

6. Challenges with current system (continued) • high revenue losses in electrification projects • need to communicate with meters remotely • government enforced Electrification Programme continues • average sales per customer per months ±R35 (±$6)

7. Remote Metering Options Considered Complete New system Establish remote communication with current installed meters Options • current meters not faulty • cost of new system • huge current installed base • return on investment • compatibility with current standards Drivers

8. Business requirements • develop a walk-by, • non-intrusive, • non-contact audit (extract/read data) system • to collect and store data from prepaid meters • technology developed to work with current meters* • cost per unit should be as low as possible • device must be replaceable without changing meter if it fails and visa-versa • it must be relatively easy to install developed devices

9. Developed Technology - InfoPOD RF transceiver or InfoPOD MC171 Port • data and tokens transfer • meter interrogation • trip meter remotely • tamper detection • connect RF transceiver to port • one RF transceiver per meter • short distance remote metering 100m Benefits

10. System Operation • InfoPOD connected to meter trough MC171 port • placed inside the meter base • Master unit connected to HHU or Laptop

11. Field Trials • 2002: 5 prototype InfoPODs at Zonkizizwe • tested ease of installation, effect of steel & concrete structures on communications. • 2m distance, complex software on HHU, MC171 connector problems • 2003: 5 new InfoPODs installed at Zonkizizwe. • 47m distance, software user friendly, run on laptop • presented results to Management. • Funding for Pilot was approved for 300 units.

12. Objectives of the Pilot • establish effective remote communication with prepaid meters • read meters from the street (at a nominal distance of 50m). • check if InfoPOD stores the correct date and time. • check the effect of electromagnetic interference on detection range. • determine effects of power loss on InfoPOD. • verify data accuracy of sales & credit information stored on the InfoPOD.

13. Pilot Preparations -2004 • selected areas with specific RF challenges • tin houses • radio interference • potential tampering of meters • interference from Hi-Tech devices • installations limited to transformer zones to facilitate revenue loss calculation • held meetings to informed customers about the project

14. Pilot Actuals Diepsloot = 67 units urban – tin/brick houses high revenue losses Mmakau = 71 units rural – tin houses radio base station-702MHz Ivory Park = 32 urban – tin/brick houses particular brand of meters Ideal Pilot expected to install 300 units for pilot 3 sites with 100 units each Challenges number of connections per-transformer zone customers not at home* tampered meters faulty meters incompatibility – proprietary meters Faulty InfoPODs Pilot Project

15. Results of Pilot • the maximum distance from where an audit was conducted was 99 meters. • the mean distance was 44 meters which allowed the users to read several meters from the street. • a limiting factor - the 3 hour battery life of the laptop. • takes 1.5 - 3 minutes to get data downloaded (depends on strength of signal) • the mean time to install an InfoPOD was 10 minutes. • could send all types of tokens to the meter from the street

16. Results of Pilot (continued) • audited weekly or two weekly. • two master units malfunction if used simultaneously within a 1km radius. • InfoPod installed in Lab • communication established from a max. distance of 79m • lab is next to Eskom Control Centre (Grid)

17. Results: Revenue loss Reduction $1 ± R6

18. Results: Normal Graph

19. Results: Normal Graph

20. Results: Tampered meter energy consumed time

21. Other Realised Benefits • monitor the quality of supply by checking the frequency of trips at the meter. • network planning - can show changes in customer’s energy consumption per transformer zone. • revenue management - show the amount of credit purchased as well as the frequency of purchases • correct non-standard tariffs in a fast non-intrusive.

22. Other Realised Benefits (Continued) • trip meters and reset them from the street. • can test meters by the standard dispenser test for maintenance reasons. • can be integrated with online vending • send credit to meters remotely with minor modifications to the InfoPOD

23. Future System

24. Concluding Remarks • remote communication is expensive in SA • pilot projects initiated to test future model • 27 000 more units will be installed in 2005 in strategic townships • all developments will adhere to STS • prepayment remote metering is the future • Municipalities in SA implementing the technology