Smart meters are small electronic devices that provide the ability to track and control energy consumption. Being a new norm in the power and utility industry that provides accurate billing of electricity consumed, smart meters give electricity operators a clear view of the operational processes with only a few clicks.
They also give users that access to figures that allow them to make efficient choices like the ability to pay only for energy consumed or to pay for equivalent currency of electricity consumption.
Over the years, Nigeria has battled with the problem of achieving efficient generation and distribution of electricity. Gradually, the country is working towards smart metering.
In my recent chat with Afolabi Sobande, Chief Financial Officer, CWG Plc, on Tech Trends show, he discusses how smart metering solutions can help increase efficiency and cut down operational costs.
CFA: Afolabi, glad to have you on the Tech Trends today.
Afolabi: Thanks, Fred.
CFA: Tell us how important it is to have a stable power industry for tech
to thrive.
Afolabi: Thank you very much for that question. For most of the technologies that we have, we definitely need electricity to transmit power from the mainframe computer to your pieces. Although one can’t run a data center without power, yet it is critical to have a data center infrastructure as that’s where your information is stored.
So if you don’t have power, then technology is zero. This is one reason we’ve not been able to push some of these technologies forward. They don’t have stability because there is no power to make sure they’re up.
Don’t forget that this infrastructure is driven by technology and has to be up and running 24 /7 365 days. Unfortunately, we don’t have a massive infrastructure in this part of the world that’s why we see some big tech companies going to countries where there’s stable power to ensure that there is no interruption in their operations.
A case in point is what happened sometimes back in Texas because of heavy snowfall, power went out and the whole state was shut down and nothing was running during that period. This is just to show the essence of power and how it affects technology.
CFA: The power industry in Nigeria is somewhat complicated. Let’s focus on the part that concerns the average guy. Can you tell us a bit about what a smart meter means and why it is important?
You can watch the full interview here.
