NEMSA allays fear of electricity consumers over meter upgrade

The Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency, NEMSA, has assured electricity consumers using prepaid meters that units already purchased will not be lost due to the ongoing meter upgrade.

Managing Director of NEMSA, Mr Tukur Tahir, disclosed this on Sunday in a statement by the Agency’s head Communication and Protocol Unit, Ama Umoren.

Recall that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had directed electricity customers nationwide to update their metering devices or face challenges with recharging by 2024.

Tahir is reacting to enquiries from electricity consumers over the ongoing discussion on Standard Transfer Specification (STS) of prepaid meters upgrading using Token Identifier (TID) rollover, set to commence soon.

NEMSA assured customers that they had nothing to fear as the meter upgrade process would not affect the credit unit balance on their meters.

It stated that the credit balance would remain intact after the upgrade, adding that the meter upgrade was a one-time process.

“The TID represents the number of minutes elapsed since the base date of 1st January 1993. The incrementing of the 24-bit field means that at some point, the TID value will roll over to a zero value.

“In order to overcome the TID rollover occurrence, all meters will require key change tokens with the rollover bit set, which will be provided by the utility companies when the key change tokens are credited.

“There was no need for consumers to panic as the TID rollover will not alter or change the metrological properties of electricity meters.

“That has been certified by NEMSA to accurately measure and record electrical energy consumed.

“Customers must upgrade their prepaid meters by sequentially entering the two KCT tokens (KCT1 & KCT2) and then the energy token, to be provided by the DISCO.

“Customers must ensure that unused or previously purchased energy tokens are loaded into their meters before expiry.

“Subsequent energy token purchases will continue as usual after the upgrade has been completed,” he said.