Prepay Metering
Prepayment of power is a new form of payment that is enabled by today’s smart metering systems. Done right, prepaid power is a huge boon to consumers and utilities alike. For utilities, prepaid power promises:
- Better forecasting of revenue
- Greater cost controls
- Reduced resource needs for collection and verification
- Reduced power-related customer incidences
For consumers, prepaid power is like today’s mobile phone contracts offering consumers a host of benefits with none of the downsides. Benefits include:
- Better management of finances
- Greater visibility into costs and energy use
- Greater predictability
The NES System presents a novel, highly effective solution for prepaid metering that enables a myriad of rewards, while limiting — if not outright eliminating — typical challenges of a traditional prepayment system. All NES meters can function as prepaid meters, and converting from traditional billing to prepaid operation only requires a software command from the central enterprise system. In other words, no site visits are required to convert a premise to or from prepaid operation. Furthermore, a main premise disconnect switch is integrated into all NES meters, so supplemental hardware installations are not required to effect enforcement.
Never Visit the Meter
At the enterprise level, the same NES System Software that manages traditional billing meters seamlessly manages pre-paid meters as well. The upshot is that there is only a single integration required for all meters, and premises can easily be converted from one plan to another, all the way from the meter to the enterprise.
With no appreciable switching cost, a utility is free to offer pre-pay to all customers, reducing the social stigma on indigent customers that would typically benefit most, while also allowing credit-worthy customers primarily interested in reducing their energy use to participate. Likewise, with lower overall management and maintenance fees, achieving billing parity with traditional payment customers becomes economically viable.
Zero Hardware Costs
Remote monitoring and recharge capabilities significantly alleviate the need for the consumer to interact directly with the meter, and therefore, for the utility to stock, deploy, and maintain costly and intrusive in-home displays. Alternately, for meters in easily accessible locations, a built-in, audible, low-credit alarm and a large, straightforward meter display provide additional ease of use. Also, the system provides comprehensive revenue protection using numerous real-time tamper detection mechanisms, along with line-tap detection. Combined with the ability to remotely upgrade the firmware of the meters if necessary, a utility can be confident that attempts to circumvent the system will not only be unsuccessful, but easily detected and definitively identified.
Real-time access to any given meter eliminates the need for card or code management, keypads, and swipe devices. Deployment of kiosks can likewise be severely curtailed, with the caveat that some facilities might need to remain for customers who are only able to pay via physical currency. With the NES approach, a customer would only need to place a phone call, or use a Web site, to replenish credits using electronic checks, credit cards, or similar arrangements. After payment is verified, the enterprise system can be configured to remotely and autonomously download the new credits to the consumer’s meter. Likewise, a utility could quickly create a simple program that monitors the consumption levels of pre-paid meters and places courtesy calls to the customer in advance of anticipated depletion.
Lifeline Service
The NES System supports switching to a limited form of service that allows only a critical amount of power to the residence. This “lifeline service” simultaneously allays any social or health concerns affiliated with unpaid bills, environmental imperatives (extremes in heat or cold), and customers with special needs, while still providing strong motivation for the customer to purchase additional credits. The NES System also offers emergency credit. This lets a customer a configurable amount of additional energy usage beyond credit depletion to permit additional time to replenish their account.
Key Attributes of the NES System that Support Pre-Paid Power
The fundamental difference between NES and traditional prepay system is that NES is built upon an open, bidirectional, and extensible infrastructure, inherently enabling a comprehensive range of utility applications. Each meter is treated as a fully accessible, intelligent network node, capable of two-way communications and programming, in addition to standard autonomous operations. This architecture allows a utility to create an intelligent, flexible, and powerful system that can be remotely managed for its entire lifetime, despite the changing needs of customers and regulatory agencies.
A two-way, advanced metering platform that inherently supports robust prepaid metering is the intelligent way to implement highly desirable prepaid metering services. The NES System, which is designed to provide today’s requirements as well as enable future desired services, provides that and more.