AUTOMATED ELECTRICITY BILL ANALYSIS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Authors

  • Pieter Goosen Center for Research and Continued Engineering Development (CRCED), North-West University, Pretoria, South Africa
  • Marc Mathews Center for Research and Continued Engineering Development (CRCED), North-West University, Pretoria, South Africa
  • Jan Vosloo Center for Research and Continued Engineering Development (CRCED), North-West University, Pretoria, South Africa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7166/28-3-1840

Abstract

The ever-increasing cost of energy puts industries under pressure. Industries are forced to monitor their energy consumption and to manage energy more efficiently and responsibly. Some industrial companies have multiple operations spread out over a wide area, making it logistically difficult to get a holistic view of the company’s energy performance. Valuable information is freely available in the form of electricity bills. However, to benefit from the information in the bills, the data should be extracted and analysed, which is a time-consuming process. In this paper, a need for an automated centralised system that extracts and analyses electricity data from bills was identified. The methodology for extracting, organising, and presenting the electricity bill information is explained in detail. The system is implemented for a gold mining company, and the results are interpreted and discussed. It was found that the system is beneficial for companies with many operations. As the number of operations increases, the value of automated bill analysis increases.

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Author Biographies

Pieter Goosen, Center for Research and Continued Engineering Development (CRCED), North-West University, Pretoria, South Africa

Pieter Goosen is a registered professional engineer and holds a M.Eng. degree in Computer and Electronic Engineering from the North-West University. He is currently enrolled for his PhD studies at the North-West University’s Centre for Research and Continued Engineering Development (CRCED) in Pretoria

Marc Mathews, Center for Research and Continued Engineering Development (CRCED), North-West University, Pretoria, South Africa

Dr. Marc J. Mathews holds a PhD in engineering from the North-West University. He is currently a post-doctoral student at the North-West University’s Centre for Research and Continued Engineering Development (CRCED) in  Pretoria.

Jan Vosloo, Center for Research and Continued Engineering Development (CRCED), North-West University, Pretoria, South Africa

Dr. Jan C. Vosloo is a registered professional engineer and holds a PhD in electrical and electronic engineering from the North-West University. He is currently a lecturer at the North-West University’s Centre for Research and Continued Engineering Development(CRCED) in Pretoria.

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Published

2017-11-22

How to Cite

Goosen, P., Mathews, M., & Vosloo, J. (2017). AUTOMATED ELECTRICITY BILL ANALYSIS IN SOUTH AFRICA. The South African Journal of Industrial Engineering, 28(3), 66–77. https://doi.org/10.7166/28-3-1840

Issue

Vol. 28 No. 3 (2017)

Section

General Articles

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