A company in my country is offering this one of a kind service to the nation...pre-paid electricity, as the name suggest, you only get what you pay for, so, unlike the other alternative, where one pays at or near the end of the month for electricity, you can pay for a day, two days, a week, or two weeks-right up to a month. Pretty good idea in my opinion, is there a service like this in your country,state,town,city or province?
Oh yes, we've had this system in my country for decades. It has progressed from inserting a coin into a slot through to taking a smart key to the nearest store and buying electricity credit there. Simply insert the key into the meter to top up. The electricity isn't sold by the day though, it is sold in increments of £5. How long this lasts will vary between households.
I know family uses pre-paid electricity and it's actually quite good. I mean, it's not as efficient when it comes to it shutting down because it finished the credits, but you can activate it immediately or take notice of when it empties.
We have this option in Botswana. They offered people to migrate over to this system if they wanted to and most have since opted for pre-paid. I much prefer it because there used to be a time when you would get the bill and think what?! The fees would be outrageous, and you'd still have to settle the bill. I don't know why pre-paid seems way cheaper. We don't pay anywhere near as much as we used to.
It's good to have pre-paid electricity like a pre-paid mobile service. At least, it will make us cost-conscious and stop us from wasting an invaluable resource. Energy! I think many 3rd world countries, who face energy crisis can adapt this simple principle to save billions of dollars on power production. Power saved is power produced!
I think that using the meter makes you more aware of how much electricity you are actually using throughout the day. Actually seeing the money going down makes you more conscious of your usage and you soon start cutting down without even realising it. For the record, I don't find pre-paid to be any more expensive either.
I agree, missbishi; if anything, pre-paid leckie does make you that little bit more aware of your consumption and/or waste. -and that can't be a bad thing. Although I still see some of my friends leaving lights on and not making much of an effort to use it wisely. Very shocking, in a country where we're always being subjected to electricity rations because there's not enough to go round
I have only heard about pre-paid power is when my friends visit or work in third world countries. I can view my power usage online, I can export it to excel and I can compare my usage to the average in the area. These are the tools I use to ensure my hydro bill is as low as possible. My payment is also done online, I can manage my power while sitting in my underwear with my morning coffee. I don't see how pre-paid energycan beat this. People above are talking about putting coins in slots and going to the store to buy special cards? That seems like a huge pain, why should I have to jump through hoops just to try to get some electricity?
There are a lot of prepaid electricity companies that advertise in Houston. I've never used them, but I think they have traditionally targeted certain populations, such as low income people, those without credit, and possibly illegals, who didn't have social security numbers, which have often been used to assess a person's credit history, and credit-worthiness. There are often steep deposits required when establishing electricity and other utility accounts, so sometimes it could be easier to use one like this, versus coming up with a huge deposit.
I'm not sure if that is already implented here but I have read of that prepaid electricity. It is designed for the poor people who sometimes couldn't pay their electric bills. The non-payment of electric bill would cause the electric company to physically cut off the connection. And to reconnect, that's another bother. But for ordinary consumers, their traditional meters would remain.
There are areas in my country where prepaid electricity is already being implemented but it's not really that popular for residents. I myself still prefer the metered electric service because I don't want to have to keep on worrying if my load is already near zero. I think the important thing is to have the right attitude and discipline in electric consumption. In the end, the way we consume our electricity will still show up on how much we pay for our bills every month or on how much we spend in buying our prepaid electric service. There's really not much of a difference for me, as long as you know how to save, it wouldn't matter whether you're using metered or prepaid.
Prepaid electricity is still on a testing phase in my country. I am not keen on the idea because I don't want to be stressed about loading just to have electricity. It's a totally different thing from using a prepaid phone because you have many alternatives for communication if you get cut off which isn't true when your electricity is cut off because you failed to load up. I am disciplined when it comes to electricity consumption and I don't need a prepaid arrangement to lower my bill. Prepaid electricity, as far as I know, is more for the benefit of the electric provider and the landlord if one is renting. That will save them from losses incurred when people run away from their bill. It will help electric companies eliminate electricity pilferage on their lines as well. I'd prefer to save on my electric bill the old fashioned way - avoid phantom electricity, turn the lights off when you leave a room, use natural lighting as much as possible, minimize aircon usage, hang your clothes to dry, etc.
