Prepaid Electric Meters
Presented by:
Arnab Biswas
Dibyarup Bhattacharya
Mehul Ganatra
Pradip Mukherjee
Soumi Maitra
Sreejib Chakraborty
Suman Saurav
Preface
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Till now more than 40 countries have implemented prepaid
meters. In UK it has been in use for well over 70 years with
about 3.5 million consumers
After its launch in South Africa in the year of 1992 it has
succeeded hugely in the country followed by other countries
like Madagascar, Argentina, New Zealand
Prepaid meters come in the market with Smart Card facility
which holds information regarding no. of units used or the
equivalent money value that has been used
In India it is also growing day by day as people are finding it
more convenient and cost effective for use
Feasibility of the project
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Hotels and Resorts : Hotels and resorts in hill stations can save
electricity bill by installing prepaid meters and switching them off in
off season
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Company use : Companies that provide staff accommodation and
need to monitor the bill for usage and control the consumption of
electricity
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NRI & landlords : NRIs who do not live in their own houses for
years do not need to pay a rent for electricity if they install this
meter.
Landlords have to pay the total rent for electricity
when there are no tenants in the house. So, they can save their
electric bill at that time by not recharging when there are no
tenants.
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Rural areas : 55% of Indian rural people have access to
electricity, so in bad times when they need to cut down the
expenditure on electricity they can stop recharging prepaid
meters but in case of post paid meters they will always have
to pay rent.
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Farmers : Farmers need to pay an arbitrary amount for
renting an irrigation pump for fields which also includes the
cost for electricity. They can save the extra cost by paying for
the exact amount of money for electricity consumed if they
have a prepaid meter.
Benefits :
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Security deposit at the time of installation only
No disconnection at night and on holidays
A graphic interface will be provided to each customer along with
the meter, whereby he can see the exact date and amount
recharged, the amount spent and also the remaining balance.
Easy to find out power theft as the whole system will be monitored
by a local server and each consumer will have an unique id to
recharge
No time limit for use of electricity after recharge
Save the electricity bill by not recharging whenever you want
Extra bill will not come even if you have mistakenly kept your fans
or fridge on when you are not home
Urban people can recharge the meter by an online facility with a
unique pin no.
Competitors
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Post paid meters : The main competitor will always be post
paid meters as they already have a big market presence for
years
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Chinese players : Chinese manufacturers are selling prepaid
electric meters at a cheap rate in the country which can be a
huge threat for Indian companies
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Solar power : Solar power is the most popular renewable
energy used in India. By installing solar power people do not
need to pay for electricity , so it can be a huge threat as
meters are not required in this case.
Porter’s Five force
analysis
•The company itself is
manufacturing the
prepaid meters so
there are no threats
from as such suppliers
• New local
companies entering
the market
• Chinese
manufacturers
High rivalry as
Chinese players
give cheap
products
• Solar power
• Post paid meters
• Electricity Boards
will always opt for
lower price tenders
for the projects
Market prospect after 5 years
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Tourism industry : Tourism industry in India is growing at a
rate of 22% each year which means more and more hotels
are opening in tourist places. These hotels are a big target
customer for prepaid meters.
◦ Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) has
successfully installed prepaid electricity meters in Lonavla in 2011.
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NRI & Working professionals : NRI and working personnel
who rarely stay at home are a big market for prepaid meters.
◦ After China, India has the largest no. of people working as NRIs in the world,
estimated at 25 million.The BPO sector is growing at 23% currently.
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Rural area : Rural people are big target customers for Prepaid
electric meters as in bad times and during winters they can
save the expenditure by using this.
◦ The Eleventh five year plan (2007-12) has stated growth rate of 9-10% in
the rural power sector.
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Electricity board tie up : The electricity board provides the
electricity. The company has to make a tie up with the
electricity board to reach the consumers. As meters can only
be provided with the electricity, the company need not do any
extra promotional activities for selling the meters.
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No monthly rent required : Prepaid electric meters will run
only on the basis of recharge that we are making each time.
So, consumer need not to pay any fixed rent each ,they only
need to pay a security deposit at the time of installment.
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Energy efficient : Prepaid meters caters a energy efficient
solution as wastage of energy is a common scenario in India.
In case of post paid meters energy is wasted rampantly but in
prepaid meters after a certain amount of usage when the
balance becomes zero, electricity will be cut off.
References:
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http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_prepaidpower-meters-in-pune-pimpri-chinchwad_1574106
http://en.wikipedia.org
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-0302/mumbai/28646093_1_prepaid-meters-recharge-newmeters
MSEDCL Website
http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/planrel/fiveyr/11th
/11_v3/11v3_ch10.pdf