DisCos to upgrade customers to STS rollover before year end

Electricity distribution companies (DisCos) in Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos are expected to upgrade customer meters to the new Standard Transfer Specification (STS),

The scheme aims to upgrade meters to start in August and should be completed before November 24.

The STS is/ a metering code, to be introduced soon and is not targeted toward increasing electricity tariffs, it functions as software of an international standard, that operates as a secure message system for carrying information between a point of sale (PoS) and a meter.

The Electricity Power generating chief stated that every DisCo has scheduled its metering coding, to align with the Standard Transfer Specification (STS), adding, “Some have scheduled for Aug. 1, but ours is not the same date, However, it will be done before the expiring date of November 2024.

“We will ensure the migration is seamless for our customers on the STS TID rollover system.

“The software will be upgraded without affecting the reading or payment model.”

The sources noted that each electric process has its intelligence units, that can transfer load, adding: “In the electricity process, there are intelligent units that transfer the load to an alternative source.

“The technology of remote communication makes possible the function and recharge of the prepaid meter.”

The report revealed that the TID – Token Identifier is a 24-bit field contained in an STS-compliant token that identifies the date and time of the token generation and is used to determine if a token had already been used in a payment meter.

They added that the upper limit for the software would be reached by November 2024, noting that would lead the rollover to zero, citing that this would be needed for the TID rollover for meter upgrade to enable meter recharge.

They also disclosed that customers need to upgrade their meters by using a Key Change Token (KCT), a special rest token, to be loaded on their meters.

“Customers will get a KCT of the DisCos offices or their agents at the point of purchase of a token alongside the purchased energy tokens.

“Customers will only need to use KCT once and subsequent energy purchases will be as usual.”

They also urged that no customers’ meters needed to be changed to enable the upgrade, except if it is an obsolete or faulty meter.