Marketing Services

Prepayment metering not only offers the Utility benefits, but also the consumer. However, consumers by nature will always view anything new with suspicion, particularly if they are not given a choice. The benefit to the consumer also depends on how convenient it is for him to purchase electricity. Marketing is not only advertising, marketing is putting together a package, which best suits the consumers needs, such as careful selection of vending sites.

We can segment consumers into two major categories, namely new consumers and retrofit consumers. Generally, new consumers are easier to market to, as we do not have to re-educate them on the payment of their electricity account. With new customers, focus should be on the benefits of electricity and education on how to purchase electricity. (Click here to view a sample marketing plan for new customers).

With retrofit customers, the most important factor should be that the consumer volunteers for the system. It should never be forced on a consumer or installed as a penalty because they are bad debtors. Rather the benefits of the system should be promoted and consumers given the opportunity to convert.

It is also recommended that the marketing or customer service staff be consulted in developing a tender specification for prepayment metering. Different systems offer different consumer features. These features range from the choice of token to consumption information such as:

• Present consumption
• Usage over the present and previous 24 hours
• Usage over present and previous 30 days
• Emergency credit
• Debt repayment
• Consumption to date
• TOU tariffs
• Revenue Collection

Because a prepayment metering system includes a meter, it is often the metering people that write the tender specification and they will evaluate the system based on the technical competence of the meter. The need to evaluate the technical competence of the meter is essential, but it should also be remembered that the meter is just the instrument to measure consumption and ensure payment. Of equal importance is the billing, in fact the entire customer payment system. After all, the reason for implementing any metering system is to ensure an efficient means of revenue collection. The collection of revenue and the management of the revenue and the management of the consumers are vital.

Thus it is recommended that the IT and the financial people are consulted regarding the customer registration database as well as the management, financial, audit and vending modules that come with the system. Issues to be resolved prior to installation include:

• Compatibility of existing system
• Ultimate size of customer base and the ability of the database
• Hardware requirements and existing or required communication media

What data on each consumer and vending will be required? The more data collected at the time of registration, the more powerful the management and reporting system. For example if one grades consumers on their estimated usage (by income, area, number of appliances), one can run a report to see if a consumer is purchasing less than their peers. From this, spot checks on meters can be conducted to determine possible fraud. The utility may also wish to do phase or energy balancing and by recording details such as what transformer the consumer is connected to, at the time of registration, one can compare electricity sales to actual energy flow through the transformer.

• Careful selection of both internal and external vendors
• Ensure that there are the necessary controls and procedures for collection of revenue from vendors and the transfer of data between SMS and vending station.
• Will emergency credit be offered and if so, how much and how will it be paid off? Does the consumer for example have to pay back the emergency credit prior to being able to be reconnected or will they always have access to power after paying off a portion of the debt?
• A similar decision is required for "friendly credit". During what period will this facility be automatically initiated?