Understanding The Technology

Utilisol's expertise and knowledge is beneficial to companies interested in gaining a full understanding of prepaid metering programs. Below are some of the basics facts that can help your organization start the process of learning how a prepayment meter program might work in your market.

UtiliSol and Prepaid Electricity: Electricity is a prerequisite to economic growth and quality of life. However, in order to pay for the cost of generation and to operate profitably, utilities need to collect payment from their consumers in a timely and reliable fashion. Past-due accounts, disconnect/reconnects and bad debt drive up the cost of electric service, depleting operating margins and making it harder for utilities to expand service offerings.

Prepaid Electricity uses the same concept as prepaid cellular phones, phone cards, and prepaid gasoline cards—consumers pay in advance of consumption.

There are four key elements to a complete solution:

1. Revenue Management System (RMS): The RMS is a client/server software application running on a wide area network (WAN) computer system that makes it possible for the consumer to buy electricity in advance, at multiple locations in their community. Getting the RMS right is absolutely essential for a stable, accurate, flexible and successful prepaid product offering.
2. Consumer Interface Unit (CIU): The CIU is a small wall mounted panel with a keypad and LCD that enables the consumer to monitor consumption and add kilowatt-hour (KWh) credit to their meter.
3. Digital Meter: The digital meter replaces the consumer’s conventional meter and contains a microprocessor to enable communication with the CIU. The meter housing also includes an automatic disconnect switch that opens or closes as the meter depletes or recharges the energy credits, respectively. Because they do not have to be read directly, the meter can be located at the top of the pole to prevent tampering and discourage bypassing the meter.
4. UtiliSol's Expertise. In addition to the physical elements of the solution, UtiliSol offers a customer service policy review, a system architecture that anticipates growth, implementation planning, integration with other enterprise software platforms, installation, training, maintenance management & other procedures and ongoing support. These are all key elements in a successful program.

Utilisol's consulting team can assist your organization on many levels - from assisting you in gaining basic knowledge to implementing a program. Contact Utilisol to find out the next steps.