Implementation of a Smart Metering System for Electricity Consumption Monitoring in Residential Areas of Port Harcourt, Rivers State

Inaccurate electricity billing, meter bypass practices, and the inability of distribution companies to monitor consumption in real time are among the most persistent challenges facing Nigeria's power distribution sector. This study presents the implementation of a smart metering prototype for residential electricity consumption monitoring in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, South South Nigeria. The research was motivated by complaints data from the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company indicating that estimated billing disputes account for over 35 percent of customer complaints. The prototype smart meter was developed using an PZEM-004T energy monitoring module, ESP8266 Wi-Fi microcontroller, and a cloud dashboard built on ThingSpeak for real-time consumption visualisation. Key features include hourly consumption logging, threshold-based SMS alerts for high usage, and tamper detection via current anomaly sensing. Testing across five residential apartments over six weeks demonstrated metering accuracy within 1.8 percent of reference measurements and successful remote reading by the simulated utility dashboard. The study acknowledges that widespread deployment requires regulatory approval from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission and recommends a structured pilot programme in collaboration with Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company. Keywords: smart metering, electricity monitoring, Port Harcourt, IoT, power distribution.