South African prepayment electricity meter specialist Conlog has signalled its intention to aggressively accelerate its African and international expansion strategy in a bid to build on its already impressive installed base of eight-million units, which have been deployed across South Africa and in a number of other countries around the globe.

The Durban-based manufacturer already has over 100 utility customers on four continents for its homegrown metering solutions. But newly appointed GM Dudley Miller says the current priority is to leverage more fully the market penetration of its parent company, Schneider Electric, which has a footprint in more than 130 countries.

Schneider Electric purchased a controlling 60% interest in the company in 2000, with the balance of the shares owned by black-economic-empowerment company Parmtro Investments, led by Joe Madungandaba and Dr Anna Mokgokong.

Conlog, which was founded in 1965 and was at one point owned by Anglo American, aims to consolidate its global prepayment leadership position. However, it is also planning to expand its smart-metering offerings in both developed and emerging markets, having developed products that integrate prepayment with sophisticated energy-management solutions.

All its products are designed, engineered, manufactured and deployed by its 285 employees, the majority of whom are based at its Overport facility, in Durban. The high-tech manufacturing plant, which has 170 mostly female workers, has a nameplate capacity to produce 100 000 units monthly. It is not currently operating at full tilt, but is already producing more than 50% of its output for export into Africa, Asia and South America.

Besides the actual meters, which come in various configurations, Conlog also offers project design and management, vending, revenue management, maintenance and training services.

Demand is particularly strong from African utilities and distributors, which view prepayment as increasingly important to their revenue protection. The South African company either has installations, or is pursuing opportunities, in Angola, Mozambique, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Botswana, Mali, Uganda and Sudan.

Conlog is paying especially close attention to opportunities set to arise in Nigeria, where it is in discussions with Schneider Electric about using its existing presence in Lagos to begin local assembly – a model that could be used as a template for other markets where local content stipulations could arise.

Similarly, there are discussions about piggybacking on its parent’s infrastructure in Nairobi, Kenya, which would immediately strengthen is local presence in the East African territory.

Such expansions are aligned with Schneider Electric’s larger African growth strategy, with Southern Africa country president Eric Léger having emphasised that establishing a “real on-the-ground presence” in a range of markets is central to its stated plan to double African sales between 2013 and 2018.

Miller stresses that, while utility requirements underpin the emerging African demand, consumers have also become increasingly receptive to prepayment, which offers real-time consumption visibility and helps households manage their energy use.

There has also been a major change, he says, in South African consumer attitudes, which were initially strongly oppositional. That opposition arose from a view that the meters formed part of a strategy to undermine the rates boycotts that were pursued by anti-apartheid campaigners in the 1980s to weaken the government. But with electricity prices having trebled since 2006, many consumers are now actively opting for prepayment as a way of managing their consumption and their electricity accounts.

After having a prepayment meter installed, a customer is able to use various distribution channels – from a scratch card voucher redeemed via a cell phone message or a direct purchase at a retail store or through the Internet – to buy a 20-digit security token service number. This number is entered into the meter’s keypad, which loads the purchased amount of electricity. Once that credit is depleted, the customer either buys a new token, or the electricity service is suspended until a new token is obtained.

“Having converted my own home to prepayment, I am far more conscious of my consumption patterns and what appliances draw the most power. I don’t think I could ever revert to a post-paid environment where I am stripped of the visibility,” Miller muses.