WEG-Wise

Energy: The emerging European AMR market and the related home automation market are estimated at 20 bill € and 100 bill € respectively for the coming 10 years. Besides legislation other market forces for growth are 1/ tax incentives for households to invest in sustainable energy, 2/ neighbourhood planning to create less energy waste and a less apparent 3/ peak-shaving trade margin for energy distributors. Record high energy prices might influence at last the general public acceptance.

Water in SA: It is not entirely possible to determine the national potential in respect of all property sectors at any given time. This is due to the dynamic nature of the process of general property development on a national basis. However, the residential sector provides an indication of the potential as other developments would normally follow a concentration of people. The statistics provided hereunder is therefore a mere indication of the potential which may exist or develop in a specific area, but by no means does it provide exhaustive data in respect of the area potential, as commercial and industrial properties are not accounted for. South Africa has a population of approximately 47.9 million people. (Source: Stats SA – Mid-year estimates 2007) At the average of 4.5 people per household, the number of existing residential units would total approximately 10.6 million. It is estimated that approximately 15% of these would consist of informal housing units or other mainly rural houses which would not be metered. This would leave a total of approximately 9 million housing units which is capable of being metered.

Green European legislation calls for the energy industry to make their customer interested in more efficient energy use. It has given rise to automated meter reading (AMR) initiatives worldwide. An AMR gateway (or concentrator) is an important part of the automated meter reading system that links the home with the utility. Company “WEG-Wise” (Water Electricity Gas Wise) has with our technology partner AP-systems we have the latest state of the art gateway including a back office system (and a proven installed base of more than 400.000 systems).

The South African market has the potential to support the further distribution of the WEG-Wise product into the rest of Africa. The time to enter the S.A. Market has never been more advantageous then right now. The whole country is faced with an electricity crisis that will not be resolved before 2012. The government is urging consumers (residential, industrial and mining) to conserve their electricity usage in order to limit the negative impact on the country’s economy. With the WEG-Wise product, we are in a position to put a tool in the hands of the government, via local government, through which they will not only be able to regulate electricity usage, but also do it in a much more efficient and sophisticated fashion.

The fact that South Africa is a water scarce country and is also struggling with the pressures of poverty and efficient service delivery to the poor is a further incentive for government to adopt systems that will assist them to manage the delivery of water AND control the demand side of the process. All of these issues are creating a need for this product and it is necessary that WEG-Wise move forward as speedily as possible in order to capture the available market.