Types Of Prepaid Meters In Ghana

Have you ever wondered about the type of meter you use in your home or at the workplace?. Stay glued as we take you through the nitty gritty on the type of meters in Ghana.

Prepayment metering was introduced in Ghana in 1994 and has since undergone several phases due to technological advancements.

An electricity meter is a simply defined as a device that measures the amount of electric energy consumed by a residence, a business, or an electrically powered device.

Depending on the environment and purpose of work, electric meters are given out by the Electricity Company Of Ghana(ECG) to consumers. The meters are calibrated in billing units (kilowatt hour [kWh]).

Generally, two broad types of meters are used in ECG. These are as follows:

• Whole Current
• Transformer Operated

WHOLE CURRENT METERS

They are the kind of meter that is usually used for Residential and Non-Residential customers with low energy requirements. They are further divided into two forms and they are:

• Electromechanical
• Electronic

Electromechanical

The Electromechanical Meter operates by counting the revolutions of a non-magnetic, but electrically conductive, a metal disc which is made to rotate at a speed proportional to the power passing through the meter. The number of revolutions is thus proportional to the energy usage.

The electromechanical meters are all credit meters and are typically:

1. Single phase credit meter

2.Three phase credit meter

Electronic

Electronic meters display the energy used on an LCD or LED display, and some can also transmit readings to remote places. These meters operate by counting impulses and therefore have ratings of impulses per kWh which differ from manufacturers.

These meters are manufactured as either credit or prepaid and may be supplied as follows:

1. Single phase prepayment meter

2. Three phase credit meter

3. Three phase prepayment meter

TRANSFORMER OPERATED METERS

These are meters generally interposed (not connected directly) at the entry of the circuit to be measured. Transformer-operated meters are typically of the three phase category and are utilised for demand above 70kVA (or 100A). Typical customers are SMEs and large non-residential customers such as hotels, restaurants, schools, hospitals, etc. The meters have accuracy classes of 1.0, 0.5 and 0.2 depending on the metering application. They may be either electromechanical or electronic.

They have the same shape and design as the other meters with the only difference been the amount of current it can take. Some have the 415V, 11kV and 33kV supplies which are used for corporations.