The Federal Government has delivered reassuring news to electricity consumers, dispelling concerns about the upcoming electricity meter upgrade. According to a statement from the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA), the credit units on existing meters will remain untouched during the upgrade process, ensuring peace of mind for all customers.
NEMSA’s Managing Director, Aliyu Tahir, emphasized that this meter upgrade is a one-time procedure, and subsequent energy token purchases will proceed as usual once the upgrade is completed. Addressing the recently announced Standard Transfer Specification for prepaid meter upgrades via Token Identifier rollover, Tahir explained the process.
To prevent TID rollover issues, meters will require key change tokens with the rollover bit set, supplied by the Distribution Companies (Discos). When these key change tokens are applied, the meters will reset the TID stack memory to zero while simultaneously changing the meter key. Importantly, this will not affect the speed or accuracy of energy meters certified by NEMSA to measure and record electrical consumption accurately.
Meter manufacturers will adapt their production processes to accommodate the new manufacturing hardware secure modules and key load files. They will also manufacture meters based on the 2014 base date specified by their customers after updating their vending systems.
In a user-friendly approach, distribution companies will provide prepaid meter customers with Key Change Tokens alongside their regular energy tokens during electricity purchases.
The final step in this puzzle involves prepaid meter end-users. They will engage in the TID rollover key change process, using special tokens known as key change tokens to finalize the prepaid meter software update.
With these reassurances and a clear understanding of the process, electricity consumers can look forward to a seamless meter upgrade that enhances the reliability of their energy measurement without any disruptions to their existing credit balances.