The Electricity Company of Ghana, Tema Region, has begun a project to replace all existing prepaid meters with Clou Smart Meters in the region.

The Regional Commercial Manager, Mr. Mawudoefia Dotse Hlorlewu, indicated that the meters are being installed mainly in Afienya, Nungua, Tema township and surrounding areas.

In all, 82,000 Clou meters have been installed so far. The project which was piloted in December 2019 and rolled out in January 2020 forms part of the company’s drive to continuously improve convenience for customers.

The new meters have a number of benefits including the ability to help customers track their energy consumption and also buy credit using the ECG Power App for smart phones or *226# for non-smart phones.

Vending and Training

The Commercial Manager added that vending points to serve customers have been commissioned at strategic locations where the project has taken off and will be extended to other communities as the project progresses. He also indicated that the Company will educate customers on how the new meters work.

Features

Mr. Hlorlewu further said that the uniqueness of the Clou prepayment system lies in the use of a keypad operator rather than a card which requires customers to insert or swipe to load credits.

He indicated that the meters are GPRS compliant so purchases are remotely credited to the meter either from the point of sale or through the ECG Power App.

Ing. Emmanuel Appoe, the Regional Engineer, explained that the meters are individually linked to a separate user interface unit installed on the customer’s premises which can be used to manually operate the meter. Ing. Appoe intimated that in the event where purchases are not remotely credited to the meter due to network challenges, this user interface can be used by customers to manually conclude the transaction using the token number on the purchase receipt generated at the vending point or via the ECG Power app.

Further touching on the technical qualities, Ing. Appoe mentioned that “these meters have the ability to cut off power whenever there are challenges with unstable voltages in the system, be it high or low”. He also added that if any customer tries to tamper with the meter, it will cut off and ECG officials will immediately know that the meter has been tampered with.

On his part, the General Manager of the Company in the Tema Region, Ing. Emmanuel Akinie, said that the Clou metering project would be extended to other parts of the region. “We are going to systematically increase the penetration of Clou meters in the region but in phases” he said, and added that the collaboration would be mutually beneficial to the communities and the Company.

He expressed delight at the successful takeoff of the project and thanked the traditional leadership and people in the communities for their support.