Prepaid electricity meters or water meters are rapidly gaining popularity in developing countries. In South Africa, households switching from postpaid monthly bills to prepaid electricity meters have greatly reduced electricity consumption. Given that household energy needs are usually relatively unresponsive to prices, the question arises where these emission reductions come from. The author tested two possible explanations and found that prepaid electricity meters may increase the cost of electricity for poorer households who purchase electricity proportionately, which is similar to the way poor people in many fields buy. It is expected that in the coming decades, the power demand of developing countries will increase dramatically. Governments and utilities that need to meet this growing demand are reconsidering strategies to recover revenue from customers. In particular, the standard billing model (a post-paid billing system in which a customer has to charge for consumption within the past month) usually results in a large portion of unpaid bills. The reason for this challenge to a certain extent is that in developing countries, prepaid electricity meters are emerging. With prepaid electricity meter , households can buy electricity in the form of vouchers from utility companies online or through mobile phones at sales outlets such as grocery stores, and only use electricity when they have credit on the electricity meter. This is the opposite of monthly billing, which only pays after use. Amazing impact on the way of buying The author of this academic study recorded an interesting finding: after switching from monthly bills to prepaid electricity meters, most households reduced their electricity consumption by an average of 14% on average. Compared to environmental policies that curb residential energy use, this is a surprisingly huge impact. In addition, household energy demand is usually relatively unresponsive to prices, which raises questions about where these emissions reductions come from. However, in this case, the author found that poorer households reduced their electricity consumption proportionately. Another surprising finding was that the poorest households started to buy very small amounts of electricity at a time. That is, they started to buy electricity vouchers very frequently, sometimes even several times a day. In principle, families can pay a large sum of money once a month and can continue to use electricity, just like receiving bills, but the author found that only wealthy families can do so. Are there disadvantages to prepaid electricity meters? Prepaid electricity meters or water meters are rapidly gaining popularity in developing countries. They are mainly attractive to utility companies because they face revenue losses, high costs, and political obstacles when performing bill payments to customers with financial difficulties. The results show that these meters have more environmental benefits by reducing the use of residential energy. However, the observed purchase patterns also indicate disadvantages for poorer households. When traveling to a store is inconvenient or even unsafe, households with low meter balances are at risk of power outages. In addition, families who purchase 10 or more vouchers per month may spend a lot of time and energy on meter management. Therefore, we conducted a follow-up study to better understand why families have changed their consumption patterns so dramatically, especially the poorest people. This issue is important, especially because these buying models are everywhere, not just in the home energy sector. Poor households tend to buy high-frequency goods in small quantities and therefore pay higher prices. Two possible scenarios: time consumption or tools for consumption management One possible explanation is that poorer families prefer to spend a small amount of money at once, even at the expense of frequent, time-consuming transactions. Economic research shows that families may have trouble with “self-control” (time inconsistent preferences) and sometimes regret their choices. With a "full" meter, it may be too easy, such as making another pot of tea or watching more TV. Keeping the meter balance low may improve self-control and affect other irresponsible behaviors in the family. If this is the case, the fact that prepaid electricity meters and the inability to purchase more electricity seamlessly may actually help households reduce electricity consumption. In turn, this will allow them to save more money or be used for other purposes. However, another possible explanation is that poor families often have difficulty pooling large amounts of funds or worrying about taking up too much cash on electricity meters. Therefore, even if the purchase of these electrical energy causes the trouble of purchasing electricity more frequently, their purchase volume will be reduced. Decrease in electricity consumption is a side effect, because less electricity is usually easier than going to the store frequently. In this case, the effort to purchase vouchers and the resulting lower power consumption have created a burden, which is disproportionately placed on poorer households. Examination of the following two explanations: experimental evidence from Cape Town, South Africa To test these two possible explanations, the author conducted experiments on about 800 poor families in Cape Town. In the first phase of the experiment, residents were provided with relatively large transfers, either in the form of cash or e-vouchers. Coupons are either single coupons or split into two and delivered three days apart. In the second phase of the experiment, the author measured the “willingness to pay” of the family to accept another form of transfer to infer that the family preferred one of them. Although the results are preliminary, the author speculates the following from the current analysis stage: Households do incur the labor cost of purchasing electricity bills, and they do not like this cost. Typical survey respondents prefer to obtain cash vouchers rather than cash vouchers, even if the electricity consumption is slightly increased during the physical transfer. Smaller remittances do not help households reduce electricity consumption: compared to one-time large remittances, half of the remittances are used as a voucher immediately, while the other half of the phone sent to the respondent three days later did not reduce electricity consumption . Compared with a large coupon, the respondents did not prefer to receive two small coupons, which shows that they believe that this delivery method cannot better control their consumption. New technologies can have different effects on the poor If these findings are confirmed in further analysis, it indicates that prepayment measurement may impose a hidden burden on poorer households. In a broader sense, they provide more evidence to prove that families under financial pressure spend a lot of time frequently and buy a variety of commodities in small amounts to avoid large expenditures, which constitutes actual costs. This shows another aspect of the harmful effects of poverty: not only do the poor buy fewer goods, but they also spend more time and energy buying. This study does not provide a complete benefit analysis of prepaid electricity meters versus postpaid electricity meters, because there may be other costs and benefits, for example, related to the revenue recovery of utility companies. However, the results highlight an aspect of how new technologies may have a different impact on the poor compared to the rich. Possible policy solutions in the electricity meter environment may require improved access to electricity vouchers, for example by setting vending machine or telephone ordering options. Automatic control, versatile use and convenient management. Zhejiang Tepsung Electric Meter Co., Ltd . is a professional manufacturer, wholesaler and factory of prepaid kWh meters. With the comprehensive advantages of price, quality and technology, the company makes its products sell well all over the world. Welcome to consult and order: https://www.yhddb.com/product/prepaid-kwh-meter/