Pietersburg council standardises on Suprima system

The Pietersburg Polokwane Transitional Local Council (PPTLC) has dramatically improved its cost savings, cash flow and management controls following its change-over to Suprima prepayment electricity systems late last year.

The systems, which are developed and supplied by Energy Measurements, the joint venture between Siemens Ltd and Spescom, went live in December just weeks after the company was awarded the tender.

Since then the PPTLC has been able to dramatically improve its service to prepaying customers, reducing credit token allocation time from an average of 10 to 15 minutes, to less than a minute per token.

It has also improved management of both internal and outside vending units, with a consequent significant reduction in losses incurred through meter tampering, says Information Systems Assistant, Lenie van der Westhuizen.

"We are ecstatic about the new systems," she confirms.

"The previous system was capable of supporting our lifeline tariff but only via the online CDU's at the cashiers outlet. Software was not in place that could facilitate the tariff on the UVM (unattended vending machine).

"We also had problems with data provided by outside coin vending machines. Reports generated by the system were often inadequate and incomplete. This made it difficult to know whether customers were excluded on the reports because they were buying from outside machines, or because they were tampering with their meter units at home in order to get more electricity than they had actually paid for.

"These problems have now been completely resolved and we are controlling prepaid electricity supplies more easily, efficiently and cost effectively," says Van der Westhuizen.

The PPTLC tender, involving two SUPRIMA master stations and 11 vending stations, was awarded to Energy Measurements in October. Because the Council had scheduled to go live at the beginning of December, the company installed a temporary solution whilst the final system, which is ready for implementation in March, was being customised.

"We expect the upgrade to proceed as smoothly as our initial implementation, she adds. Energy Measurements worked day and night to get us up and running on time, and it was a pleasure to work with people who obviously knew what they were doing and were determined to do it well.

"This has really characterised the company's service ever since and is in stark contrast to our previous supplier," Van der Westhuizen adds.

So far, the PPTLC has over 7000 customers electrified on prepayment systems. The user base is expected to grow rapidly in light of the fact that all newly constructed RDP housing will be equipped with prepayment meters. Flat owners are also displaying a keen interest in the technology.

Van der Westhuizen notes that the Suprima system also had the lowest tender price.

"We feel so positive about this programme that we are now looking at the possibility of introducing prepaid water supply systems," she concludes.