THE IMPACT OF PREPAYMENT METERING ON CUSTOMER ENERGY USAGE

Abstract

This project tries to find out the impact prepayment system has had on the customer energy usage with Ashanti Region as the case study. Load management has been a major concern to (ECG) utility providers. Apart from the losses incurred and the dwindling of resources, environmental problems also crop up in terms of generation. Building of new power plants has been a great burden since it takes time and financial resources. Due to these and other problems utility providers (specifically ECG in 1994) decided to introduce prepayment meters. After the first introduction of prepayment meters (pay and smile) by ECG, different categories have been in the system. The project results indicates that the system has had a positive impact on consumers by way of helping them reduce their consumption after the introduction of prepayment system. For instance results of the project indicate that with the 28% introduction of the prepayment system in Ashanti, about 30.1% energy savings was made by ECG. Literature also reviews that energy savings were made after the shift to prepayment as reported in the Oklahoma Electric Cooperative report. The last chapter of this research is the conclusion where a number of recommendations have been made to Ghana government, Ministry of Energy, Ghana Standard Board and the utility providers.