COMMERCIAL FEATURE Revenue protection by smart meter By Emmanuel Akromah, technical director of NURI Telecom SA (Pty) Ltd U tility companies need to continue to remain financially healthy and viable to deal with the challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality. Securing the revenue from the various services that the utility companies provide to their customers in a timely and accurate manner is fundamental to keeping their strong financial position. The AiMiR system assists utility companies to achieve this goal. The AiMiR system also provides a definite solution to overcome problems of inaccurate billing and loss of revenue to utilities, and secures the financial position of utilities. This solution is redefining utilities’ financial management. The AiMiR online prepaid system consists of the AiMiR prepaid smart metering system (PSMS) and the AiMiR vending system (VS). The smart meter communicates with the data concentrator unit (DCU) to send reliable and secure data over the RF or PLC mesh network in the last mile. In the wide area network (WAN) area, the DCU and AiMiR head end collect the energy usage over mobile network calculations based on the usage and the tariff structure is made at the head end. A scheduler checks the balance of the charged amount every hour. In the situation where there is insufficient credit left on the account, electricity supply is automatically blocked. The AiMiR VS platform is used for securely selling electricity credits. It is accessed online through a mobile phone and also by internet banking services. Electricity credit is also purchased offline through a self-service kiosk and third party vending station connected to the AiMiR through the internet secured virtual private network (VPN). The customer is immediately informed by SMS about the recharged credit and is also notified, when a threshold amount is set, to let him know before the credit is completely used up. ESI AFRICA ISSUE 1 2014 The AiMiR PSMS establishes a reliable and dependable smart prepaid electricity metering platform that is highly accessible and simple to use for all customers. Not only does the solution offer electricity consumers fair and reliable access to electricity, it also provides security of revenue for those parties responsible for delivering electricity to residents. The electricity consumers will be able to access multiple vending channels where they can purchase prepaid electricity. These channels will include a network of kiosks (located at various locations, third party outlets, spaza stores etc.), internet, interactive voice response (IVR) based telephone payment accessed through the utility’s 24/7/365 contact centre, mobile phone (SMS), smart phone applications, internet banking and/ or electronic funds transfer, direct debit/ standing order facilities with banks. The electricity consumers will log onto their account (through username and password) via the vending platform. Once the electricity consumers have been authenticated they will be able to make a payment (cash, credit/debit cards, electronic funds transfer) via their chosen utility’s vending channel. The VS will conduct payment authentication and if successful, the payment will be cleared in real time. At the vending point, the electricity consumer will receive confirmation of the payment on the vending platform display (and through a receipt). The associated credit will be loaded directly through the utility back end system and onto the AiMiR platform in real time without the need for a token. In addition, because of the near real-time meter reading capability of the system, it will be possible for the system to calculate an estimation of the remaining time left (based upon consumption history) before the available credit runs out. Again, this information will be displayed on the customer’s mobile phone. The utility can set default parameters on the AiMiR system so that it will trigger a series of alarms when the available credit reaches a set of threshold levels (e.g. 24 hours, 12 hours before credit runs out). This information will be displayed (sent to the customer’s mobile phone) on the customer interface unit (CIU). Based upon this, the electricity consumers should be fully aware of their consumption and level of credit, so they will be able to make an informed decision and plan how to manage their remaining credit (i.e. reduce consumption if they do not have sufficient funds to reload credit immediately). The PSMS operating model therefore ensures that: • The electricity consumer has multiple channels to select from which to actuate payment. • The electricity consumers will have real time information available to them on how much credit remains and an estimation of when the credit will run out. • A system of alarms and messaging will advise electricity consumers if their credit has fallen below a threshold value (analogous to a low fuel warning light in car). The electricity consumer can make an informed decision on when and how to make a payment ensuring an uninterrupted supply of electricity. ESI 63