Grinpal Installs Smart Meters at Xstrata’s Steelport Residential Mining Complex
Grinpal, a subsidiary of Palace Group and a solutions provider in the smart energy solutions field, has installed smart electricity pre-paid meters at listed mining giant, Xstrata’s Steelport residential mining complex. This is a relatively new residential complex officially opened in 2011.
This project was efficiently delivered by Grinpal, in just two weeks. The site was officially handed over to the client, Xstrata, on 16th March 2012.
Xstrata experienced problems with their customers living in their Steelport residential complex defaulting in in electricity payments as well as by-passing the existing and faulty electricity meters.
Compounding the problem even further, was the long distance that had to be travelled by the complex residents in the complex in their quest to purchase electricity tokens.
Project description
Grinpal was appointed to replace existing pre-paid meters in the residential complex with the new Grinpal designed pre-paid smart meters. The scope of work included decommissioning of the old meters, installation and commission of the smart meters, installation of a vending station, installation of the meter communication equipment and capturing of the customers details. To ensure ease of access for the complex residents when it comes to purchasing electricity, Grinpal installed a vendor at a local Sasol filling station.
Grinpal will also be hosting the back-end servers for Xstrata, and will provide monthly reporting on revenue and tampers of the meter.
With the installation of the Grinpal smart meters, the following benefits are enjoyed by both our client and the complex residents:
• The complex residents have access to electricity pay point 24 hours a day
• The vending station is within close proximity from the complex
• Our client, Xstrata, gets an accurate view of data on electricity consumed and will detect meter tempering and by-pass attempts as and when they happen
