Martin Endjala
Robert Kahimise, the Chief Executive Officer of the Electricity Control Board (ECB), has expressed concern about the low uptake of the Token Identifier (TID) project in the Namibian Electricity Distribution Industry (EDI).
Only 13.4 percent of all electricity meters have been identified according to the TID project nationwide to date.
Kahimise stated that this slow progress is a matter of concern for the ECB, as more than 86 percent of prepaid meters still need to be rolled out, and there is less than a year remaining until the cutoff date of 24 November 2024.
To avert the imminent crisis, the CEO announced that the ECB has issued directives to all licensees regarding the TID roll-over project.
These directives include completing the TID roll-over project on or before July 31, 2024, which will leave an additional four months to address any challenges that may arise before the November 24, 2024 deadline.
Kahimise explained that this approach will involve providing monthly progress reports to the ECB to monitor the project’s execution and to make emergency budgetary provisions if necessary.
The ECB strongly supports the TID Roll-over Project and emphasizes its importance and impact on prepaid electricity consumers.
Kahimise encouraged all prepaid electricity customers to cooperate with their respective distribution licensees by granting them access to the prepayment meters to complete the TID roll-over project within the set deadline.
He further clarified that the Token Identifier (TID) is a 24-bit field contained in a Standard Identification Specifications (STS) compliance token for the electricity prepayment meter. It identifies the date and time of token generation and is used to determine if an STS token has already been used in a prepayment meter. After a certain period (30 years), the TID in the token will reset back to zero.
Additionally, the current TID is set to roll over on November 24, 2024, affecting all STS Prepayment Meters under the jurisdiction of licensed electricity distributors in Namibia.
Prepayment meter users who have not undergone the TID roll-over process by this date will not be able to purchase electricity.
Following prior engagement with all the EDI licensees, the ECB organized a targeted workshop with all 29 distribution licensees on November 3, 2023, to assess the overall industry progress.
The TID Roll-over Project affects a total of 321,278 meters in the Namibian EDI. As reported during the meeting by the licensees present, only 43,146 meters have been rolled over, representing 13.4 percent progress, leaving 278,132 meters yet to be rolled over.
The TID Roll-over Project involves the entry of two TID tokens by the distribution licensee or its representative to update the customer’s prepayment meter from Key Revision 1 (KRN1) to Key Revision 2 (KRN2). Importantly, this process does not impact the end consumer tariff or prepayment meter accuracy.
