Over the weekend, maintenance works undertaken by telecommunications giant Digicel Samoa caused interruptions to the Smart Meter System, prompting the Electric Power Corporation (E.P.C.) to issue a public statement. 

The disruptions affected various aspects of the smart meter system, including delayed updates on meter balances, disregarding disconnections for meters with credits or IOUs, and delayed reconnections for topped-up meters.

In response to these disruptions, E.P.C. advised its customers to ensure their meter credits were topped up to prevent potential IOUs resulting from communication interruptions between the smart meters and the E.P.C. main system during the maintenance period. 

The Corporation reassured its customers that they would receive regular updates on the progress of the maintenance and when the system is expected to return to normal functionality.

Digicel Samoa, the service provider for the smart meter system, also notified the public about potential service interruptions in the coming weeks. 

The disruptions are attributed to the company's ongoing network upgrade preparations for the rollout of 5G technology and technical maintenance activities scheduled over the next few weeks.

While efforts are made to conduct these upgrades during planned off-peak times, customers are advised to be mindful of unplanned outages. 

They have been cautioned that intermittent connectivity issues and outages may occur beyond the scheduled maintenance periods.
In an apology to customers, Digicel Samoa expressed regret for any inconvenience caused by the interruptions. The company assured its commitment to completing the necessary upgrades efficiently while minimising disruptions to services.

Some customers expressed their frustrations regarding the connectivity issues on social media platforms.