Here are Nine (9) Electricity Terms You Should Know

Electricity is a very important part of our existence as humans. With it, you can get to do many things at your convenience. An old quote puts this more succinctly as, “Electricity can transform people's lives, not just economically but also socially.” We definitely agree.

The adoption of prepaid electricity has equally increased overtime, as it is proving to be a better and more resource saving mode of electricity usage. Everyone wants to maximize value, yeah?

In this post, we’ll be taking 9 terms about electricity and prepaid meters which you might want to know, and tell you their meanings. Who knows, they could just come in handy. Let’s do this:

Energy Charge

An energy charge means the value you are charged for your electricity usage based on the energy consumed in terms of kilowatt-hours (kWh) and the rate for that energy. This is usually in a given billing cycle.

Vending

Vending is the actual process of you buying or purchasing electricity units from various platforms.

Prepayment [Prepaid] Meter:

A prepayment meter is a kind of meter which can be installed in your homes, offices or any other domestic facility. With it, you are at liberty to pay for your energy before you use it. Paying for your energy can be by adding money to a 'key' or smart card, after which it is inserted into the meter. You can prepay for your electricity in Nigeria through platforms like Buypower.

Tamper Mode

It is a situation where the “meter contactor/cover” is open and unable to dispense power/supply/current to a customer premise.

Credit Token

This is a 20 digit number which is usually generated after you must have successfully paid for your electricity unit. The token is to be inserted in your prepayment meter to get the value of electricity you paid for.

Mass Metering

This is an act, usually by the power companies, where they release a bulk amount of prepaid meters to the mass market. An example is AEDC’s deployment of 222,728 meters to consumers in areas of FCT, Kogi, Niger and Nasarawa States.

Tender

Tender is a process through which interested vendors are invited by power companies.

Meter installation

The actual act of installing a meter in your home, office or any other domestic facility. You can contact your power companies if you don’t have one installed already.

AMI

AMI means Advanced Metering Infrastructure. AMI meters are also known as Smart meters and they are updated, digital versions of the traditional electrical meter which are usually attached to the outside of your home.

There you have it, do well to share this with someone you know.

P.S: To share your thoughts with us, sign up for a free Disqus account. We'd love to hear from you in the comments section.

Did you find this post helpful? Sign up here and we'll let you know whenever we publish a new one.