Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) have set November 2024 for electricity consumers in Nigeria to upgrade their meters.
But while mixed reactions have trailed the initiative, the DisCos have maintained a deafening silence on the matter.
Under the meter upgrade plan, called the Standard Transfer Specification (STS), a metering code to be introduced soon, will have to be generated by a consumer.
The code, said to be a software of an international standard, is to upgrade old meters (prepaid) to STS rollover.
The STS rollover is said to be a secure message system for carrying information between a point of sale (PoS) and a meter.
Although the DisCos have advised their customers to upgrade their meters from August 1, they maintained that it is not targeted at increasing electricity tariff.
Officials of some DisCos who spoke in confidence with The Nation because they have not been permitted to speak openly on the matter, said the cut-off date for the upgrade is November 2024.
Our sources across the various DisCos explained that customers’ meters have to be upgraded to allow for accessibility, although each DisCo will have to schedule its own metering code.
“Some have scheduled for August 1, but ours is not same date. However, it will be done before the expiring date of November 2024,” said one of the DisCos source.
He added: “We will ensure that the migration is seamless for our customers on STS TID rollover system.
“The software will be upgraded without affecting reading or payment model.
“In electricity process, there are intelligent units that transfer the load to an alternative source.
“The technology of the remote communication makes possible the function and recharge of prepaid meter.”
The Token Identifier (TID) is a 24-bit field contained in STS-compliant token that identifies the date and time of the token generation. It is used to determine if a token was already being used in a payment meter.
The source said the upper limit for the software would be reached by November 2024, adding that would lead the rollover to zero.
He also said this would be needed for the TID rollover for meter upgrade to enable meter recharge.
The source also said customers need to upgrade their meters by using a Key Change Token (KCT), a special rest token, to be loaded on their meters.
“Customers will get a KCT of the DisCos offices or their agents at the point of purchase of a token alongside the purchased energy tokens.
“Customers will only need to use KCT once and subsequent energy purchases will be as usual,” the official added.
But another source with a different DisCo explained that the programme had not been initiated by the distribution company he worked for because of the need to look at its practicability.
“It’s not that we are not aware of this initiative. But we have opted not to communicate about it because we have to look at what we are embarking on to ensure that it is meaningful at the end of the day. That is why we have not uttered any statement on this. Even those talking about it now, have they really done due diligence on it?” the source queried.
One point all the DisCos have agreed on is that a customer’s meter does not need to be changed for the upgrade, except if it is obsolete or faulty.
Credit: thenationonlineng.net
