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COMMERCIAL FEATURE Electric utilities’ IT infrastructure U ndeveloped electricity infrastructure is known to be one of the strong barriers to economic growth in African countries. Electrification rates and electricity consumption of countries have a direct relation to their economy. As shown in Figure 1, Low and Middle Income countries (LIC & MIC) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have lower access to electricity and consequently have lower consumption compared with other parts of the world. Existing electricity networks are not reliable. Frequent outages, unreliable networks, low power quality and other factors impact customers and force them to find alternative electricity. To solve these problems, utilities should recruit efficient systems (hardware and software). Suitable systems that help utilities in this regard are Distribution Management, Outage Management, Meter Data Management and Meter Data Collection, Asset Management, Field Device Management, Customer Relationship Management and SCADA. range of IT systems to utilities and helps them to manage their challenges as explained above. Meter Data Management (MDM) System Hexing MDM provides a comprehensive solution for utilities to integrate electricity, gas, heat and water metering data in one intelligent platform and solve interoperability problems permanently. Hexing MDM unifies Figure 2: Hexing MDM system architecture and streamlines the (MDC/AMM) systems. Hexing’s MDM total process of meter data collecting allows utilities to deploy new smart from different smart metering systems, technologies and unify billing procedures validates, estimates and gives the without rearranging their existing operator the ability to edit data and finally process. Figure 2 shows different convert data to useful information for modules of Hexing’s MDM system. utilities’ different subsystems. The important role of MDM is to Meter Data Collection (MDC) collect meter data from different smart System metering systems and from different Hexing offers a state of-the-art Meter These systems can help to: vendors. All these meter data collection Data Collection system that manages • Increase electricity reliability; systems have a special reading and all smart metering requirements and • Decrease frequency and duration of calculation schedule and period, along enables utilities to integrate metering data customer outage; with their own specifications. collection platforms which can manage • Decrease demand through demand One of the most important aspects of electricity meters, gas meters, water side management; each MDM system is fast processing of meters, and empower utilities with critical • Reduce the cost of grid operation, huge amounts of data sourced from the data for operations and maintenance. maintenance and expansion; field and other subsystems. The MDM Hexing system’s functionalities are: • Reduce electricity generation and system is designed in such a way that • Monitoring technical loss and reducing delivery cost; it analyses large volumes of data very non-technical losses; • Increase utility revenue (decrease quickly. Hexing’s MDM system not only • Demand management (tariff system losses); prepares data for the billing system but management); • Introduce a new line of customer also handles storage and distribution • Improving consumption patterns services. of non-billing data and events, tamper through information shared with alarms, outage management data and customers; Hexing; after working with utilities around other critical data. With this effective • Improving payment systems; the world and implementing different types system, utilities are able to merge and • Reducing total costs of meter of systems and solutions, offers a wide unify different meter Data Collection reading, operation and maintenance, Other Other and customers’ disconnection and SSA LICs SSA MICs LICs MICs reconnection; • Preparation for electricity retail Access to electricity 16% 41% 32% 88% markets; (% households) • Increasing electricity sale options with Capacity (MW per million different prices; 37 326 251 648 people) • Power delivery with higher quality and reliability; Figure 1: Access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa and low income countries. 82 ESI AFRICA ISSUE 3 2014