Kenya Power has kicked off deployment of its smart meter reading technology targeting 1.8 million postpaid meters.
The firm says the Optical Character Recognition (OCR), allows for digital scanning of meter the post-paid meters whose readings must are still taken manually and submitted
every month for billing.
According to Kenya Power Commercial Cycle Manager Richard Wida, the technology is designed to enhance the efficiency, accuracy and speed of meter data collection.
“Technology is a major driver of our business, and in terms of billing, specifically meter
reading, we have been looking at how to make it better and more accurate,” said Wida.
“With the OCR system, the meter reader will just be required to scan the meter, and the system
will pick the meter readings automatically. This will save time and eliminate human error
that is likely to occur if the meter reader manually types the readings,” he added.
The power utility says the rollout targets all its 8 regions after a successful six months pilot in Nairobi.
The OCR system is also expected to
reduce billing anomalies that arise from erroneous meter readings.
“The OCR technology is a major milestone in Kenya Power’s digital transformation
journey through which the Company is aiming to strengthen service delivery and
enhance customer experience. It will complement other technologies that the
Company has deployed to improve service delivery and strengthen operations,” Wida noted.