Albert Science International Organization

 Abstract

Most developing countries, including Ghana, continue to use the conventional meter system  to check energy consumption. However, increased electricity coverage to remote areas, low revenue generation, high electricity loss and high meter tampering have necessitated that a more advanced metering system be adopted to salvage the huge debts confronting energy providing companies. As part of the process of improving the metering system, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) introduced prepaid meters to avoid manual reading of energy consumption. Nevertheless, the problems of meter tampering, energy loss and low revenue generation still persist. Considering the numerous advantages associated with the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) based meter systems, it is envisaged that the Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) system could help address most of the operational challenges encountered by the ECG in the distribution of energy to consumers. This study explored the technical challenges of adopting the smart metering system in the Juaben Municipality in Ghana. Some of the reasons given for the feasibility of installation of GSM-based metres in houses in the Municipality were changing existing metres for the AMRs, having spaces for such metres, and having good telecommunication reception to use GSM-based metres. On the other hand, reasons for the less or least feasibility of installing GSM-based metres in houses included not having money to change metres, not having time to chase ECG employees for such metres, not having space for new metre, poor telecommunication reception for GSM-based metres, and difficulty in using such metres in compound houses. This research revealed that the majority (61.5%) of the respondents agreed for the adoption of a GSM-based metre by ECG, whereas 38.5% disagreed.

Keywords: - Smart Metering, Technical implications, Sample Size, User perceptions, Technicians-Skills, Stake Holders Concerns

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