The South African electricity distributers, City Power are ready to implement an AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure), or smart meters also known as electricity meter, throughout Johannesburg. The smart meters are connected to computers which are then able to provide an accurate and up to date report on the exact amount of electricity that has been used in a household during a set period of time.

The introduction of these smart meters will eliminate the need for City Power technicians to visit properties and will further contribute toward accurate billing as consumption will be measured in real time. City Power’s Communications General Manager, Sol Masolo, said the implementation of the smart meters will commence this financial year and conclude in either September or October 2015.

“The purpose of the business trial was to ensure that the roll out went smoothly as well as efficiently. During the business trial, we also deployed meter data management software to collect meter reading information which was then provided to the City of Johannesburg’s billing system”, said Mosolo.

153 smart meters have been installed in Johannesburg’s Ferndale suburb and a further 2,500 in other areas of the city which currently use the most electricity over the course of 8 months. This was all done in line with City Power’s scheme, ‘Project Business Trial’.

“This business trial allowed us to compile key business processes as well as to set up the back office environment so we were able to see the expected benefits,” said Masolo. The first phase will be to focus on larger power users within Johannesburg. Meter installation takes less than an hour to complete and will be carried out along with residental consultations.