http://mareditelcoms.co.

za



http://invirohub.com

http://powercom.co.il


CASE STUDY: DEPLOYMENT OF END-TO-END SMART METER
SOLUTION SOUTH AFRICAN RURAL MUNICIPAL
ENVIRONMENT

THE BUSINESS CASE
Elias Motsoaledi Municipality is situated in the province of Limpopo.
The municipality extends the town of Groblersdal and the satellite
town of Roossenekal, about 100 km distance from Groblersdal. For
over five years, the municipality provided the citizens of Roossenekal
with free electricity. The municipality could not charge for electricity because the town was too remote
and it was impossible to properly meter and read electricity consumption. The town of Roossenekal
consists of about 80% RDP housing and the remainder small commercial enterprise and suburbs.

The municipality had a serious dilemma. On the one hand, it was obliged to continue supplying
electricity to the residents of Roossenekal; on the other hand it could not sustain continued supply
without charge. The municipality therefore decided to try a smart metering solution and consequently
published a tender to provide an end-to-end smart meter solution to Roossenekal.
The tender was awarded and at a cost of millions to the municipality the
solution was installed. For various reasons the installation did not work at all.
All the smart meters that were installed had to be decommissioned. The
municipality had to write off its investment in the first installation but was still
faced with its original problem. The municipality decided to re-tender on the
deployment of a smart meter installation. However, the terms of the new
tender were different from the first tender. The tender would be for two phases. Phase one was the
installation of an end-to-end solution in Roossenekal. Only if Phase 1 was successful and proved itself
over a number of months, would phase two kick in. Phase two would be for the installation of a smart
meter solution in the entire municipal district including the large town of Groblersdal. Furthermore, the
company winning the tender would not be paid until Phase 1 had been completed successfully. If Phase
1 was not successful, the winning company would not get paid at all.



http://mareditelcoms.co.za



http://invirohub.com

http://powercom.co.il


The Invirohub solution was awarded the second tender using the equipment and software from
PowerCom.

INVIROHUB
Invirohub is a subsidiary of the Maredi Technology Group in partnership with Voltex (Pty) Ltd. Voltex is
Southern Africas largest distributor of electrical supplies and is a wholly owned subsidiary of the BidVest
Group. The Maredi Technology Group is a Level 1 (AAA+) BEE company with three subsidiaries:



PowerCom is a leader in remote and control metering technology. The Company is engaged in
developing, manufacturing and marketing a complete smart grid metering for electricity, water and gas
utilities with a range of superior benefits provided by its unique and patented technology. The
Companys Advanced Meter Infrastructure (AMI) includes a portfolio of innovative products, from a data
management system housed at utilities data centres, to leading edge meters and concentrators, all the
way through to intelligent consumer monitoring solutions for managing consumption. The system
utilizes all available open protocol communication such as PLC, RF, GPRS, and Ethernet.
Powercom has received extensive recognition for its exceptional PLC performance, having achieved
99%+ communications in near real-time. Powercom has deployed its solutions in over 18 countries in
the past 3 years. Powercom products are fully certified with proven worldwide performance.

THE CHALLENGES
Roossenekal is a remote rural town over 100 km away from the
municipal offices in Groblersdal. The cellular network coverage in
the area is intermittent at best. There are no electrical supplies for
over 150 km. The residence of the town are in the main RDP home
dwellers. All the towns residence have never paid for electricity
ever since the town was electrified (over five years ago). The
previous failed installation of smart meters had created skepticism
among the municipal councilors and antagonism from the
population. According to the new tender conditions, Invirohub had
a tight time-line within which to deliver a complete solution. The conditions for carrying out vending
were also extremely challenging given that the network coverage in the area was unstable and sales
could only be conducted from the municipal offices in the area. The local municipal staff had very little
computer skills and training and would be required to manage and operate a sophisticated online 24/7
teal time system. Finally, the municipal records of residences and points of delivery were non-existent.



http://mareditelcoms.co.za



http://invirohub.com

http://powercom.co.il


THE IMPLEMENTATION
On the 23 March 2012 Invirohub concluded its agreement with the municipality. Phase 1 required the
installation of over 600 smart meters in Rosenenkal and Phase 2 the installation of approximately 12,000
meters in Groblersdal. Phase 1 commenced on 1 April and concluded on 1 October, as follows:
STAGE START END
Site Audit and Preparation 1 April 15 May
Installation Meters and Data
Concentrator Units
15 May 15 June
Installation Keypads and
Meter Sealing
15 June 30 June
Commissioning and Training 1 July 31 July
Vending Tests and Activation 15 August 30 September
Stabilization 1 September 30 September
Final Troubleshooting and
Completion
1 October 21 October

Six hundred smart meters were installed: 85% of the meters were single phase and 15% Three Phase.
Nine Data Concentrator Units (DCU) were installed. Maredi Telecoms expertise in telecommunication
were brought to bear in solving the unreliable, remote communication issue. A PLC+GSM hybrid based
communication infrastructure was implemented. The meters communicate with the DCU using Power
Line Communication (PLC); the keypads synchronize with their respective meters also using the power
line. The DCU were equipped with GSM SIM cards and communicated with the cloud hosted Meter
Management and Revenue Management systems.





http://mareditelcoms.co.za



http://invirohub.com

http://powercom.co.il


The meter management and vending systems are cloud based. The municipal offices in Roossenekal
access these platforms with a browser and simple low end PCs in the local municipal office. The
communication between the Roossenekal municipal office works on the Elias Motsoaledi municipal
WAN. The meter management systems empowers the municipal staff to manage the meters, the
customers, the tariffs, the energy management and a host of other revenue related issues. The system
also enables the municipal staff to monitor bypass attempts and meter tampering for which
immediate real-time alerts are sent.
The municipality agreed to proceed with direct-load of pre-paid electricity. This implication is that when
the customer purchases pre-paid electricity, his meter is loaded immediately as the sale is completed.
There is no need to issue an STS token and then punch in the token value at the meter. The Invirohub
vending system still issues an STS token via SMS.
Municipality staff were trained on the system by means of hands on formal training and on the job
training. After less than a month, the staff was able to manage the entire system and the vending
process by themselves, including: checking if DCUs and meters are on line; converting meters from pre-
paid to conventional and vice versa; limiting the rating (amperage) of the meter; checking meter load
status; loaded free basic electricity; remotely disconnecting and reconnecting meters; generating tariffs;
producing daily and monthly reports on sales, consumption and other energy related matters.
THE RESULTS
Phase 1 of the Invirohub system was successfully implemented. Of the 578
installed meters only 1 meter was not communicating and this for
reticulation reasons not connected with the metering or communication
technology.
The municipal staff are now able to manage both the meters, the revenue
and the vending.
The residents, who had never paid for electricity in the past, have begun
paying diligently and without any protests or compliant. The fact that the
metering is accurate and that the system is online 24/7, fast and reliable has been conducive to
fostering a payment culture.
The most important goal of the municipality in deploying a smart meter
solution, was to recover the cost of electricity it was supplying to the
residents at no charge. With the deployment of phase there is a 100%
recovery rate by the municipality, who is now selling electricity at a profit.
Tampering and bypassing efforts have been detected and apprehended in
time. Based on three month vending figures, the smart meter Phase 1
deployment will pay for itself within ten months.
The municipality consequently signed off Phase 1 and Invirohub will roll
out Phase 2 in 2013 consisting of over 12,000 meters.



http://mareditelcoms.co.za



http://invirohub.com

http://powercom.co.il


Groblersdal municipality today has the most sophisticated electricity metering infrastructure in
Limpopo.

References:





Ayal Rosenberg,
Invirohub MD
Email: ayal@invirohub.com
88 Western Services, Road
Woodmead, Johannesburg

Kennedy Mametsa,
City Engineer,
Elias Motsoaledi Municipality
Tel: 013-262-3056
2 Grobler Avenue,
Gorblersdal