The first two sites of an innovative billing system developed by Red Man Technologies for rural solar energy users have successfully gone live in Tsomo and Mount Fletcher in the Eastern Cape. The system was developed for KES, an energy service provider to the Department of Minerals and Energy and municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.
The billing system enables customers to buy energy vouchers from local suppliers and enter the appropriate codes into their prepaid meters in order to use their solar home system.
KES operations manager Tanguy Boussard says these two sites represent the starting point of a three-year installation phase that should bring solar energy to 25 000 households and 300 schools in the Eastern Cape. Similar systems have been implemented in Kwa-Zulu Natal but KES felt that, because of the remoteness of the installations and the unreliability of communications in rural Eastern Cape, a more robust solution for the billing system had to be developed.
"We needed an application that followed our business processes and was easy to learn and operate. Branches need to be able to work offline and in isolation and periodically update information to the central server in Durban when communications operate optimally and certain functions must be controlled centrally. Our specific needs were not met by packaged solutions on the market."
Tanguy says Red Man Technologies' innovative solution "addresses the complexities of operating in rural Africa. Innovation was particularly required to address the user-friendliness of the system, ensuring that the process followed a path that was logical to the user. Red Man demonstrated an ability to think through the processes, consider options and recommend appropriate solutions.
"Additionally, they had to develop a unique fail-safe method of transferring batches of data between branches and head office and vice-versa."
This solution will enable KES to operate successfully in rural areas with central control. "It was developed in the knowledge that local operating skills are scarce and communications are poor. It meets the operational requirements, follows logical business flow, and is simple to learn and operate," he says.
Red Man demonstrated an understanding of the electricity environment and brought to the project their considerable experience in developing billing systems for the telecommunications industry.
Mike McGrath, Red Man Technologies' strategy enablement executive, says that Sage's Point of Sale application was used as the base on which extensive bespoke processes were developed. Rural branch offices manage customer relations and sell them electricity vouchers. The voucher number is punched into the meter at the customer's home, initiating the flow of energy into the home. Security built into the system means that the expiry date cannot be interfered with.
A job system deals with new installations, faults and queries. Job cards are produced on a daily basis for technicians to attend to in their regions. Batteries, meters and solar panels have serial numbers and can be tracked if they are removed from the customers' homes.
The central office manages the stock master files and tariff systems which are disseminated to the branches via periodic data transfers, ensuring that all local operations have consistent information.
KES is a South African company that was created in 2002 by two major French energy corporations. Electricite de France owns 65% and Total 35%. It was originally created to provide solar power to rural homes in one concession area in KwaZulu-Natal.
In 2005 KES was awarded another concession, subsidised by the German Development Bank, to roll out the system to the Eastern Cape.
MaxLite's Trevor van der Vyver, suppliers of the prepaid solar meter, worked extensively with Red Man Technologies to develop the billing application.
"I believe that, together, we have evolved a financially viable energy delivery system suitable for countries where traditional power grids and their support infrastructures are too costly to install. This is a basic building block for social and economic development, and can be implemented anywhere in the world."
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