The moment you introduce ‘smart’ in the context of metering technology, it forever changes the way energy is supplied and consumed; and what could be more welcome in Africa than power delivered in a manner that drives economies forward while simultaneously addressing basic fundamental needs?
Smart innovation is a strategy that Conlog has embraced since it formed in 1965, initially as an electronics design business. Its pioneering and innovative spirit has, over the decades, had an impact on a cross-sector of industries largely in the supply of control and metering devices.
Today Conlog is host to the world’s largest base of smart and prepaid metering and revenue management solutions for the energy industry. Most have evolved from technology supplied to other industry sectors during Conlog’s formative years.
‘At Conlog, we tend to embrace a continuous evolution of thinking and incremental knowledge extension, whereby what we learn today can be applied to what we do tomorrow,’ says Conlog CEO Logan Moodley. ‘This is what drove our entry into prepaid metering and saw us pioneer and become a founding member of the Standard Transfer Specification Association, which is the South African metering standards industry body that informs the STS standard – a secure messaging system that carries information between a meter and its host.
‘This standard supports the likes of South Africa’s national power provider, Eskom, and it has become a cornerstone for pre-payment activities setting the standard for the rest of the continent and the world.’
Conlog is a proudly African company in that its products and technology are conceived, designed and manufactured in South Africa.
‘This is extremely powerful because it means we respond to what our market demands within the context of the continent’s unique problems, and we’re able to produce and innovate robust products for this African environment,’ according to Moodley. ‘We also understand how electricity brings a whole new dimension for economic growth and improves the quality of life for people.’
Investment in and sustainability of electricity is one of the most topical discussions across Africa’s utility conferences – particularly that of how to provide power to homes and businesses, and the type of technology needed in support. But, as Moodley points out, ‘African nations generally all have the same issues; however, their expectations differ. There are related complexities but it’s about how one informs this dialogue that speaks to these concerns and expectations’.
Conlog solutions for smart cities, for example, take into account the entire landscaping around metering. ‘Critical thought around power generation, transmission and utilisation in the distribution sector ensures that our metering solutions holistically support revenue collection and protection,’ he says. ‘There is also the all-important aspect of enriching people’s lives by connecting them to resources, which in turn propels the business landscape.’
Moodley confirms that the opportunity for prepayment metering has never been in a stronger position with utility providers seeking to incorporate smart-metering technology into, especially, smart-city ecosystems. ‘It’s critical, however, that they understand it’s not about having the latest, greatest and most expensive technology, but technology that serves needs.
‘We have a variety of metering solutions that contribute to the smart-city landscape,’ he says. ‘A utility must be mindful that they should ensure their spend in metering technology can be sustained for 10 to 15 years to effectively realise a reasonable return on investment. We have seen competitor products swapped and changed cavalierly up to three times a year, which makes cheaper options ultimately more expensive.
‘One of our core competencies is our confidence in a Conlog product’s performance in the field, and that we can keep it operational over a longer period of time than most of our competitors, be that software or hardware. This is substantiated by our provision of a 10-year claim of support on Conlog metering systems, which ensures future investments for us and our customers.’
Conlog also has a very flexible manufacturing capability that allows it to fulfil a varied number of orders and respond to growing demand. This plays out within its own plant in support of its supply chain management capability. ‘We can turn around more than 40% of the orders we receive in a month, within the month,’ according to Moodley. ‘This type of production turnaround is unique in our industry.’
Despite many differentiators between Conlog and its competitors, the major one is that the company is focused on fit-for-market and ensuring best value for investments. ‘The sustainability around our products is how we bring relevance to the total cost of ownership,’ he says.
It’s a topic, adds Moodley, that ‘today may be taken too lightly but still one that we will continue to pursue in the hope of creating a more sustainable, long-term view for energy stakeholders on the continent’.
