Mozambique: EDM launches campaign to update Credelec metres across the country, starting Thursday

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Mozambique: EDM launches campaign to update Credelec metres across the country, starting Thursday

10:40 CAT | 21 Aug 2024

Photo: AIM

EDM will update around 3.5 million Credelec metres from this Thursday to November 24.

Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) will begin updating its “Credelec” prepaid electricity metres on Thursday (22-08) of this month, in an operation scheduled to run until 24 November and expected to cover 3.5 million customers.

Updating the metres will not entail any additional cost to the customer. The gradual campaign will initially will cover the southern part of the country, specifically Boane district, in Maputo province, followed by the remaining areas and provinces throughout the country.

“The measure aims to improve the provision of the Credelec sales service, increasing convenience, comfort and convenience for the customer,” said Francisco Inroga, the administrator of the Commercial Distribution and IT Department of EDM.

Speaking at a press conference in Maputo on Tuesday (20-08), Inroga said that the update will allow the metres to continue receiving recharges without constraints, and comes in response to technological developments in the prepaid energy sales system.

“We have more than five million transactions per day. So, we need robust systems. After installing a more modern technological infrastructure, this is the last phase of updating the metres,” he explained.

“The goal of the update is to provide better services to our customers. It is a process that all electricity concessionaires that use the Credelec system are implementing, so we would not be left behind,” stated Inroga. The manager explained that EDM is updating the metres because the deadline is November 24th. In this context, the update aims to prevent recharges purchased by the customer after that date from being rejected.

“Technically, it is necessary to explain that the energy recharge code encrypts a series of information, one of which is the sequence of the moment in which energy was purchased, that is, how much time has passed since January 1993 until now. Now, this record reaches its maximum on November 24th, 2024, and therefore it is necessary to reset the metre for a new count. Otherwise, the metre may reject it, giving a message that the new recharge has already been used,” Inroga explained.

He said that “the process will be gradual and will cover the entire country, with the Boane district in Maputo province [south of the country] being the pioneer”.

According to the source, the updating process involves each customer receiving a series of three codes. “If the three codes are not entered, Credelec will not accept new energy recharges,” Inroga cautioned.

The source said he hoped the updating process would take less time than expected, so that “we can have a period of consolidation of this entire process”.

ALSO READ: Mozambique: EDM to replace [almost] all post-paid electricity meters – not those in “sensitive services”

He recommended that customers not keep any recharges already purchased before updating their metres.

“If I have a recharge purchased today and then update the metre first – the [recharge] can no longer be used. It [recharge] must be used before updating the metre, because the metre will only accept new recharges,” he explained.

Implementing the update will cost EDM about US$5 million, but at no cost to the customer. “Updating the metre is mandatory and involves no additional cost to the customer,” Inroga concluded.

Source: AIM Moçambique / Carta de Moçambique