METERING STRATEGY Reducing losses and improving efficiency through technology in Uganda Briefly put: Uganda’s Umeme, the company responsible for the majority of the electricity distribution in the country, has had a challenging time bringing losses down, improving billing and meter reading and reducing theft. Metering interventions have played a part in the company’s strategy. In 2005, Uganda’s Electricity Distribution Company Limited handed over control of the country’s distribution networks (up to 33 kV) to Umeme Limited, a company 60% owned by Actis (previously GDG Globeleq), with the remainder of the company listed on the Ugandan Stock Exchange. Umeme now operates, under concession, the entire electricity distribution network for Uganda. The 20 year concession is meant to allow for increased foreign investment into the power sector and Ugandan economy, improving the quality of electricity supply within the country through rehabilitation, upgrading and expanding of the distribution network, and increasing connections to previously unconnected customers. Umeme has had a tough road to travel in order to bring losses down from 40% in 2005 to just over 20% in 2013; and has invested some $130 million into the distribution sector, and seen savings in excess of $100 million for the Ugandan consumer. A parliamentary investigation into the company last year accused Umeme of inflating investment into the distribution sector, and failing to deliver on agreed terms with regards to performance. However, Uganda has an installed capacity of 550 MW but a peak demand of over 480 MW, making it hard for the utility to avoid blackouts when capacity falls below demand. According to Charles Chapman, Managing Director of Umeme, the utility has also made 220,000 new connections against a target of 60,000 and increased revenue collection from 75% to 98% of total electricity. According to Minister Irene Muloni, Minister of Power for Uganda, prior to the reforms in 2005, collections were as low as 25% and “if the concessions (of Umeme and Eskom) are terminated and placed into the hands of speculators, the power sector will inevitably collapse and the entire economy may collapse with it.“ 32 As part of ongoing efforts, not related to the parliamentary investigation, Umeme has recently invested in new meter reading equipment which is making a difference to the turnaround time of meter reading, and helping to ensure that meter readings are more accurate during both reading and capturing phases. With over 600,000 metering points, Umeme has to employ some 283 meter readers, who currently manage to manually read about 120 meters daily. This accounts for some 80% of Umeme’s total meter reading needs. The current system, which is mainly paper based, sees the meter readers given sheets of paper with metering points and addresses, and they are then dispatched to take readings at the various offices, home and industrial premises. Readings are written down on the lists, which are then submitted for capturing by data clerks. Approximately 50 – 70 data clerks are currently employed purely to input meter readings and generate bills. The utility is experiencing an error rating of some 40% with this system currently. However, a trial project could see an end of high billing errors and increase the speed at which bills are generated. Using a HHU (handheld unit), meter readers are able to input data directly from the meter into the device, which then verifies the reading for accuracy against various parameters (number of digits, out of reading range, negative and zero consumption) before accepting the reading. This checking and verification is done while the meter reader is on site through the cellular network. The pilot has seen bills being generated in 3 days as opposed to 7 days previously, and a fall in errors from 40% to 5% in the pilot area. The company is also increasing operational efficiency by reducing the number of data clerks to 25, and re-deploying meter readers who don’t have the technical skills to operate the new system to other job functions. Customer satisfaction ratings have improved with regard to the timeliness and accuracy of the bills, and while the pilot is only across 55,000 of the 600,000 metering points, the response has already been positive. The next phase of the project will include 180,000 metering points and it is hoped that the full 600,000 will be covered by the end of 2014, allowing for some delays in areas where the cellular network is not providing sufficient coverage. The payback on the new metering reading system is estimated to be 12 months. However, other benefits include fewer staff, more efficiencies, fewer operational costs (stationery currently costs in excess of $340,000 per year) and they have been able to reallocate staff to other areas of the business. The system, called SevenX, provided by New Zealand company DataCol Group, is used for meter reading at domestic and commercial premises. This server based software manages field force logistics and collects meter data from handheld units in the field via manual or automated reads. Using open technology, the programme allows customers to use commodity priced handheld computers rather than expensive and inflexible propriety hardware – customers can purchase their own hardware if preferred. Speaking with Ronald Kawaddwa, Metering Services Manager at Umeme, the impact of the new system to date has been outstanding. MI METERING INTERNATIONAL ISSUE - 2 | 2014