NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 19 – The Kenya Power and Lighting Company has launched an Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) system that will cater for its over 4,000 large power customers who account for 63 percent of its business.
The AMR system which is part of a utility billing system that manages meters remotely will cost the company Sh67 million.
“The system will enable reading of meters remotely at specific defined intervals, disconnect and reconnect supply and can even detect interference of the metering installations,” said KPLC Managing Director & CEO Joseph Njoroge.
The AMR system will also increase the frequency of meter reading and therefore improve billing accuracy.
“There will be a reduction of billing errors leading to customer satisfaction, and an improvement of power quality and system reliability as frequent reads of power quality will be shared with our customers by our operation & maintenance teams”, the CEO added.
He explained that KPLC would be in a better position to negotiate with Large Power Customers when attempting to control loads reaching the thresholds of the systems capacity.
They will also be able to conduct system planning more easily due to the availability of actual data on Large Industrial Customer load patterns; improve data reliability and accuracy; eliminate estimated meter readings; reduce labour costs; improve employee safety; and accelerate cash flow based on monthly billing.
An AMR system consists of meters with data communication functionality; data acquisition; concentration and communication devices (modems) software for meter reading, billing and interfaces with the billing system for reports.
