Smart Metering Project in Anambra State, Nigeria

 

100%
Collection Efficiency

 
 

98%
Faster Theft Detection

 
 

150%
Revenue Increase

 

The pilot study in Odida was a tripartite project between EEDC, Ukpaka Ltd and SteamaCo. Odida is a typical rural Nigerian community which has challenges with the reliability and affordability of power. The community wanted more power but EEDC held a lack of confidence that the community would be able to pay for this power and that theft could be controlled.

The project aims…

  • Determine whether EEDC revenue could be protected and collected by the use of smart meters and AI monitoring of the network

  • Test the community acceptance and engagement of pre-paid metering

  • Understand whether power theft be successfully detected by AI monitoring

  • When power theft is detected, does the SteamaCo Losses App prove successful in investigating alerts and evidencing power theft

  • Test the communication capabilities of both smart and bulk meters in a rural location

  • Determine the efficacy of local technical teams to support the distribution network, engage the community and follow up power theft alerts

  • Quantify the technical loss on the network and identify potential causes

  • Increase power distribution to the community from Band E to Band D

  • Evidence the Service Based Tariff (SBT) banding via of bulk meters

  • Understand how best to engage with community leaders to manage the change from community billing to pre-paid billing.

Before the project…

  • EEDC collection efficiency was 40% for Odida prior to the pilot study

  • EEDC was limiting power supply based on the collection efficiency

  • ATC&C loss was not being accurately measured for the Odida transformer and so did not identify the key drivers of loss

  • Consumers didn’t have reliable power when they need it

  • Consumer’s bills don’t accurately reflect their power usage

  • Over-reliance on expensive and carbon-intensive diesel and kerosene generators

  • Sporadic power delivery meant productivity was stifled, reducing spending power

  • No customer incentive to use power consciously due to fixed billing each month

Compelling Project Results…

The project has some very encouraging results in respect of both grid performance and customer benefits, these are:

  • EEDC revenue increased by 150%

  • EEDC Collection Efficiency went from 40% up to 100%

  • Technical Loss was evidenced to be 22.6%

  • Band D power was delivered and uptime was evidenced

  • Meter bypasses, partial meter bypasses and illegal connections were detected by the AI

  • Via AI, power theft was detected within 2 days of occurrence, reducing detection times by over 98%

  • 95% of customers trusted their power usage and pre-paid billing

  • Anecdotally, there was reduced usage of generators

  • Immediate increase in community economic activity

  • More conscious use of power evidenced by customer feedback