GUMCO, Genus Power sign MoU for meter manufacturing in West Africa

Global Utilities Management Co. (GUMCO), a subsidiary of Vigeo Group, has signed a long-term partnership agreement with Genus Power Infrastructures Limited, for the manufacturing, assembling and development of power metering solutions for Nigeria, and other countries in the West African sub-region.

The Chairman of Vigeo Group, Victor Osibodu, signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on behalf of GUMCO, while the Executive Vice President of Genus Power, R. Viswanathan signed on behalf of his company.

The MoU signifies the intention to collaborate closely on developing viable solutions to meet Nigeria and West Africa’s power metering needs. It also provides a framework for joint research, setup and deployment to develop innovative features tailored to the challenges of the West African power market.

The scope of the collaboration includes the pooling and exchange of ideas, expertise and resources, as well as the joint organisation and participation in the end-to-end process of bringing the products to market.

Through the GUMCO and Genus partnership, Nigerian power distribution companies (Discos) will have ample opportunity to service their consumers with metering solutions suitable to the real-world challenges of the market as well as enhance their bottom-line and reputation with their customers.

Other senior executives of Vigeo and GUMCO that were present at the signing ceremony were Abu Ejoor, Director of Vigeo Power, and Tosin Osibodu, Business Development Manager of GUMCO.

According to GUMCO Business Development Manager, Tosin Osibodu, “GUMCO is excited and honoured to be part of this unique partnership with Genus Power.”

This forward-looking initiative will be a key driver enabling greater performance and accountability within the power sector while creating local jobs through the lifecycle of meter manufacturing.

“Together with Genus Power, we can leverage on each other’s expertise and collaborate to manufacture, assemble and provide high-quality metering solutions made in Nigeria to service Nigeria and moving forward to the West African market on country to country basis. We’re looking forward to a rewarding and mutually beneficial partnership.”

Commenting, Viswanathan said: “As a leading meter manufacturer, with the largest installation base of meters in India, it is imperative that Genus shares its experience with its partner GUMCO to provide a range of highly innovative and sustainable metering products and solutions to mitigate the pain areas of Nigerian DISCOMs and customers.”

GUMCO was established in 1998, to improve the efficiency in the downstream Electricity Power sector of Nigeria. The company has been involved in all the Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiatives in the Nigeria Power downstream subsector starting with the Revenue Cycle Management (RCM), Metering and Billing Management (MBM), and the National Pre-Paid Metering Programme (NPPMP).

Genus Power is the largest manufacturer of Electronic Energy Meters in India, with an installation base of more than 44 million meters working satisfactorily in field. Genus, a pioneer in the development of anti-tamper electricity meters, offers wide spectrum of smart metering solutions including Smart Meters, Communication Modules and related Software’s to enable utilities reduce their losses.