GHANA Electrometer (GEM), the nation’s sole provider of quality credit and pre-paid meters has announced plans to expand its operations into the West African sub-region starting from Sierra Leone and Liberia next year.
The Director of Strategy, Operations & External Affairs of GEM, Obed Solomon who disclosed in Accra stressed that;”we have contacted utility providers in Sierra Leone and Liberia and the responses are positive, so we are waiting for the go ahead”.
The move the management of the company says will enable them to serve the about 250 million people market with the latest innovative smart electricity meters. It will also enable the company to bring its quality products to the doorsteps of utility providers in the sub-region.
Mr Solomon told journalists at a capacity building programme dubbed ‘Editors and Senior Journalists Forum’ in Accra over the weekend that the company was going to increase its current pre-paid meters production capacity of 2000 per day to about 50% after the completion of the company’s ultramodern factory which commences next year.
The new factory which is supposed to commence this year as part of the company’s 10th anniversary had been shifted to next year due to delays on the part of the contractor, he explained.
Mr Solomon flanked by other managers of the company noted that their SMART G meters system ongoing pilot project in Danyame, in the Ashanti West region of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) scored 100%.
The pre-piloting project which started in October last year afforded the company the opportunity to address some challenges they would encounter in the pilot process in the Ashanti West region of ECG in the Ashanti Region.
He explained that the overall objective of novelty SMART G meters system was to help the government to rake in more revenue for development.
Another objective of the system is to provide prompt, efficient and reliable customer satisfaction for ECG pre-paid meter users, Mr. Solomon added.
The components of the SMART G meters project, he mentioned include: database, SMS, GPRS servers and firewall which prevents hackers to hack into the system.
There will also be post of sale points where scratch cards can be bought to recharge their pre-paid meters, while, the charging methods of the pre-paid meters are by GPRS, Scratch cards and SMS text.
Mr. Solomon, who took the journalists through the presentation, revealed that the meters could record events; including data corruption, hardware errors, low battery, low credit, overload, overvoltage, and under-voltage.
Touching on the operations of the firm, he stated that “GEM is the only locally based electric meter assembly plant in Ghana and currently provides job to over three hundred (300) Ghanaians directly and indirectly.
GEM has been providing Ghana with credit and prepayment meters since 2004. This continues to facilitate and accelerate revenue generation, collection and protection.
The company has so far supplied for deployment by the Electricity Company of Ghana and the Ministry of Energy about 350,000 credit meters and over 440,000 prepayment meters in many cities in Ghana.
Mr. Solomon added: “Our major customers are the Ministry of Energy and the Electricity Company of Ghana. These cherished stakeholders have deployed several thousands of GEM E-Cash Prepayment and Credit Meters in many of their operational areas”.
Under ECG’s prepayment metering project, GEM E-Cash Meters both stand alone and split have been deployed in the following operational areas; Koforidua, Ho, Takoradi, Sekondi, Cape Coast, Kasoa, Kumasi, Accra, Tema, Tafo, Hohoe, Swedru, Nkwakaw and Afienya.
GEM Credit Meters have also been deployed under the Government of Ghana’s Self Help Electrification Project (SHEP) and the National Electrification Scheme (NES) over the period, he stated.
GEM’s strategic partnership with Elsewedy Electrometer Egypt S.A.E, a market leader in electricity meters and metering solutions in Africa and the Middle East, has endowed the company with the requisite technology, skill and capacity to offer the Ghanaian and West African Markets electronic meters with modern technologies.
With a commitment to excellence in delivery, GEM continues to invest its resources into upgrading its facilities, production and operational processes and most importantly, its people.
Customer service systems are also continuously enhanced in order to provide metering service solutions that satisfy customers’ needs in a sustained manner.
GEM has a full suite of product and service offerings ranging from pre-installation services to product installation and after sales services.
They include the following: Pre-installations services; Site surveys; Meter installation; and Consumer awareness Campaigns.
African Eye News.com
