Minsait will help Gambia to manage its water and energy more efficiently

Minsait, a company belonging to Indra, has signed a contract with NAWEC, Gambia’s public services company, to implement advanced management systems for the energy business and the corporate departments so as to reduce energy and water losses in the distribution network and improve business management, the incident response and the commercial attention to customers in the country’s electricity and water services.

Minsait thus contributes to the modernization and sustainable development of the Gambia with a project that will improve essential public services, with a major impact on the people's quality of life and on the environment.

The contract, worth more than 5.5 million euros and financed by the World Bank, constitutes one of the main initiatives of The Gambia Electricity Modernization and Restoration Project (GEMRP), a key plan to expand the capacity of the transmission and distribution networks and cope with the growth of the customer base, which is estimated to reach a year-on-year 8% increase over the next five years. The project includes the modernization of the commercial management areas in the electricity and water businesses with a view to their future division into two different companies.

Minsait will provide NAWEC with all the systems it needs for the integrated operation of its business, enabling the different departments to share updated information on commercial activity, the network, logistics, human resources and the financial statements.

During the virtual meeting to launch the initiative, Alpha Robinson, the managing director of NAWEC, stressed that the project “represents a significant milestone in the process to transform the company towards a more efficient, effective and sustainable service provision model with a cutting-edge solution that implements the best practices in the industry.”

Similarly, Emeric Osmont, director of West and Central Africa at Indra, pointed out that this initiative “will enable Indra, together with its Minsait subsidiary, to consolidate its position as a leading technological partner for public service companies in the area, allowing them to improve their operational performance and increase the quality of the provision of their services with a positive impact on the environment.” He also highlighted the “key role” played by the World Bank as “a facilitator of the digital transformation in the energy sector.”

Solutions with an impact

Thanks to the Onesait Utilities Grid, Minsait’s solution for the integrated management of distribution networks, NAWEC will be able to register customers’ notifications of the unavailability of the service and generate incidents in an automated manner, thus streamlining their management by the companies’ center of operations. The solution systematically monitors the energy flows, identifying the losses by means of measurements of the network and consumptions at the supply points. It also analyzes the potential for irregularities in the consumption and characterizes areas of the network by level of losses and their evolution over time.

Onesait Utilities Customers, Minsait’s state-of-the-art solution for the comprehensive management of the commercial business of public service companies, will make it easier for NAWEC customers to carry out administrative tasks and have their queries resolved via mobile apps and the website, at any time and on any day of the year.

The project will increase the efficiency of collections thanks to the pre-payment option included in the solution, as well as improving commercial decision-making with the integration of an analytical information management platform. Another expected benefit is the fall in unbilled water, in other words, water already produced that then gets lost in the distribution network before reaching the customer due to various factors such as spills, theft, unlawful use and inefficiencies in the internal procurement, reading and billing processes.

The experience acquired by Minsait in similar projects has reduced the time the electricity supply is interrupted each year by up to 7% and the costs of the field work due to the commuting of operators by 20%. Its direct impact on the operational and maintenance work is reflected in annual savings ranging from 5% to 10%. Minsait’s solutions have also reduced claims by up to 15%, cut the business cycle by 1 to 3 days and achieved savings of up to 20% in the operational costs of the meter to cash processes, as well as those related to the management of the field work crews and the drawing up of reports.

A leader in transformation projects in the energy sector

More than 20 million customers in Africa are managed through Minsait’s energy business solutions. The company has taken part in several of the most important modernization processes undertaken on the continent in the last 20 years and has more than 15 references and offices in different countries in this geographical area. It also has an energy center of excellence in Nairobi through which the business solutions designed by Minsait are maintained and developed to deal with the challenges and opportunities related to energy and utility companies in the region.

Minsait’s energy solutions have been implemented in more than 350 electricity, water, oil and gas companies in almost 50 countries. More than 100 million customers around the world are currently managed by means of systems developed by the global consultancy and technology company.

About NAWEC

NAWEC is Gambia’s main provider of public services and it is responsible for the generation and supply of electricity, drinking water and sewerage services for domestic, industrial and commercial use. It currently has a total of 171,911 electricity customers and 66,675 water and sewerage customers. Most of them are located in the metropolitan area of Banjul.

About Minsait

Minsait, an Indra company (www.minsait.com), is the leading company in digital transformation and information technology consulting in Spain and Latin America. Minsait possesses a high degree of specialization and knowledge of the sector, which it backs up with its high capability to integrate the core world with the digital world, its leadership in innovation and digital transformation, and its flexibility. Thus, it focuses its offer on high-impact value propositions, based on end-to-end solutions, with a remarkable degree of segmentation, which enables it to achieve tangible impacts for its customers in each industry with a transformational focus. Its capabilities and leadership are demonstrated in its product range, under the brand Onesait, and its across-the-board range of services.

About Indra

Indra (www.indracompany.com) is one of the leading global technology and consulting companies and the technological partner for core business operations of its customers world-wide. It is a world-leader in providing proprietary solutions in specific segments in Transport and Defense markets, and a leading firm in Digital Transformation Consultancy and Information Technologies in Spain and Latin America through its affiliate Minsait. Its business model is based on a comprehensive range of proprietary products, with a high-value end-to-end focus and with a high innovation component. In the 2019 financial year, Indra achieved revenue of €3.204 billion, with more than 49,000 employees, a local presence in 46 countries and business operations in over 140 countries.