Electricity metering system - Subsidiary service under study

The consultants in charge of the study of the project to spin off electricity metering services in Cameroon, returned their copies during two workshops organized respectively in Yaounde and Douala, on November 11 and 16, 2021.

The Electricity Sector Regulatory Agency (Arsel) considers it appropriate to migrate consumers to smart or prepaid meters in order to improve service quality and reduce the many complaints from customers regarding disputes over amounts bills. This project will also reduce the operator's commercial losses in terms of backup costs and will therefore have a positive impact on the calculation of the electricity tariff. As part of the “Project to spin off electricity metering services in Cameroon”, launched in February 2020 by Arsel, the consultant retained to carry out feasibility studies for an improvement in electricity metering services returned his copy.
The works presented in Yaounde on November 11, 2021 and in Douala on November 16, 2021 report savings of around 350 billion FCFA that could be achieved by 2031 with the introduction of 3.5 million smart meters /prepaid instead of mechanical and electronic meters.
 Financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB) through the African Fund for Private Sector Assistance (FAPA), this project, which lasted 18 months, has two components: component 1 of the project concerns the results of the feasibility studies and is presented by the Cabinet Dev2E International while component 2 concerns the drafting of regulations on smart and prepaid meters is returned by the RTE&EDF consortium.
The prepaid meter is a meter that works with a recharge, as for the telephone, to be able to consume energy. The postpaid communicating meter, a so-called “smart” meter, integrates an automated computer system allowing the distributor and the user to have precise and real-time data on electricity consumption. Thus the electricity distribution company can act remotely without having to resort to readers.