As it is known, in water, electricity, and other resources metering, there are two different payment strategies: prepaid mode and postpaid mode for utilities.
How do they differ? And what are the advantages of one mode over the other? Let’s discuss this here.
The main advantage of the prepaid mode for utilities lies in minimizing the risk of non-payment by consumers. As you can understand, when a client cannot consume services on credit, there won’t be any debt accumulating. By the way, such a system is also convenient for consumers themselves, who know exactly how much water or electricity they have used and can plan accordingly.
Another significant factor speaking of the advantages of the prepaid mode in metering is significant cost savings on issuing actual bills for services. Just imagine how many tons of paper can be saved by eliminating paper bills!
Overall, there are five main advantages of the prepaid mode over regular billing:
1. Debt prevention. With the prepaid system, users pay for services in advance, which helps prevent the accumulation of debts and fines for non-payment.
2. More predictable expenses. Users, knowing their utility expenses in advance, can more accurately plan their finances, avoiding unexpected bills at the end of the period.
3. Budget management. The prepaid system allows users to manage their finances more effectively since they can evenly distribute their expenses for utility services throughout the period.
4. Reduction of bureaucracy. For utility companies, the prepaid system can reduce the amount of paperwork and administrative costs associated with issuing bills and managing debts.
5. Increased payment discipline. Since users pay for services in advance, this can contribute to increased payment discipline and responsibility towards utility services.
Let’s take a detailed look at how prepaid water metering works using the example of the ADDRA smart water metering system developed by ADD Grup.
The concept of prepaid from ADD Grup: Prepaid ADDRA meters effectively increase water consumption efficiency and reduce losses through data management and control. The implementation of prepaid is based on the internationally recognized STS standard.
Key features of the prepaid solution:
On which water metering devices is prepaid used?
Prepaid options are available for the following ADD Grup intelligent water metering and control devices: WMP – water meter with a separate control valve and WMV – water meter with integrated valve.
How does it work?
In case of unpaid credit, the meter sends a command to close the valve, which then shuts off the water supply. To restore the supply, the consumer needs to pay for the water and send the received token to replenish the credit to the meter locally through a special mobile application or remotely through LoRaWAN.
What communication means are used for this?
Access to the ADDRA smart water meter can be obtained locally via BLE (Bluetooth) or remotely through LoRaWAN.
How are tokens processed?
Each token is unique and contains a certain amount of cubic meters of water to be credited to the consumer’s account. Tokens are entered locally via a mobile application or remotely through HES (High-End-software).
What does the ADDRA Prepay View mobile application allow you to do?
The ADDRA Prepay View application allows the user to send tokens, view the valve status and meter information, including meter alarm signals. The application has a simple and user-friendly interface.
Contact us at info@addgrup.com for more information about our products and our technologies.
