“Brilliant, great! I battled for two years for a solution. SICK understood our requirements exactly and delivered!” – was the reaction of Emmanuel Matodzi, Technical Manager of the Egoli Gas Company, after they are now also working with the ultrasonic gas flow meters of SICK.
Emmanuel Matodzi, Technical Manager, Egoli with Doreen Cronje, National Sales and Marketing Manager PA, SICK South Africa
Egoli Gas (Pty) Ltd is a natural gas distributor, based in Johannesburg, South Africa, and provides gas to more than 7500 domestic, commercial and industrial users in the area. The Company operates an 1800km gas distribution network that dates back to 1892.
The enterprise expressed a need for a technology, that was innovative and that could deliver as per their requirements of quantifying low flow rates, beyond the ability of the typical mechanical gas meters, such as rotary or turbine meters. At the End of 2016, three FLOWSIC500 gas flow meters from SICK helped the natural gas supplier Egoli Gas (Pty) Ltd, to reduce its unaccounted-for gas by approximately 29% amount. The meters provide accurate meter reading and abandon the risk of gas blockages from failing mechanical meters. This was the turning point, which forged a strong relationship between SICK and Egoli Gas (Pty) Ltd.
That success has recently been replicated on a much larger scale across the gas supplier´s distribution infrastructure, with several additional flow meters being delivered at the end of 2017.
SICK was able to provide them with a solution that went beyond their expectations. “You have equipped us with a tool that has allowed us to be proactive. We are able to see consumption and flows in real time for different flow ranges which is brilliant“, said Emmanuel Matodzi. The meters – the FLOWSIC500, FLOWSIC600-XT – supply the level of accuracy required for quantifying low flow rates that was not possible with typical mechanical gas meters, providing a greater operational and process transparency, which allows the gas supplier to reduce issues of losses, incorrect billing and theft.
