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Charging Ahead: Prepaid Metering, Electricity Use, and Utility Revenue

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  • Kelsey Jack
  • Grant Smith

Abstract

Monthly bills for services such as electricity often go unpaid in developing countries. Prepaid meters offer a potential technological solution. In Cape Town, South Africa, over 4,000 residential customers on monthly billing were switched to prepaid metering, with random variation in the timing of the switch. In response, electricity use falls by 14 percent, driven at least in part by an increase in marginal price sensitivity. The decrease in revenue to the municipal electric utility is more than offset by lower revenue recovery costs. Switching poorer and more in-debt customers generates the greatest net revenue gains to the utility.

Suggested Citation

  • Kelsey Jack & Grant Smith, 2020. "Charging Ahead: Prepaid Metering, Electricity Use, and Utility Revenue," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 134-168, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejapp:v:12:y:2020:i:2:p:134-68
    DOI: 10.1257/app.20180155
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Elinder, Mikael & Hu, Xiao & Liang, Che-Yuan, 2021. "Water conservation and the common pool problem: Can pricing address free-riding in residential hot water consumption?," CERE Working Papers 2021:12, CERE - the Center for Environmental and Resource Economics.
    2. ITO Koichiro & ZHANG Shuang, 2020. "Reforming Inefficient Energy Pricing: Evidence from China," Discussion papers 20062, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    3. Lanot, Gauthier & Vesterberg, Mattias, 2021. "The price elasticity of electricity demand when marginal incentives are very large," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    4. Meeks, Robyn C. & Omuraliev, Arstan & Isaev, Ruslan & Wang, Zhenxuan, 2023. "Impacts of electricity quality improvements: Experimental evidence on infrastructure investments," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    5. Li, Li & Jeuland, Marc, 2023. "Household water savings and response to dynamic incentives under nonlinear pricing," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    6. Klug, Thomas W. & Beyene, Abebe D. & Meles, Tensay H. & Toman, Michael A. & Hassen, Sied & Hou, Michael & Klooss, Benjamin & Mekonnen, Alemu & Jeuland, Marc, 2022. "A review of impacts of electricity tariff reform in Africa," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    7. Cardona, M & Gallego, J & Garcia, J & Franco, J, 2020. "Prepaid electricity and in-home displays: an alternative for the most vulnerable households in Colombia," Documentos de trabajo - Alianza EFI 18990, Alianza EFI.
    8. Werthschulte, Madeline, 2023. "Present focus and billing systems: Testing ‘pay-as-you-go’ vs. ‘pay-later’," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 108-121.
    9. Werthschulte, Madeline, 2020. ""Pay-later" vs. "pay-as-you-go": Experimental evidence on present-biased overconsumption and the importance of timing," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-089, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    10. d'Adda, Giovanna & Mahmud, Mahreen & Said, Farah & Bonan, Jacopo, 2020. "The Role of Flexibility and Planning in Repayment Discipline: Evidence from a Field Experiment on Pay-as-You-Go Off-Grid Electricity," RFF Working Paper Series 20-14, Resources for the Future.
    11. Barry, Mamadou Saliou & Creti, Anna, 2020. "Pay-as-you-go contracts for electricity access: Bridging the “last mile” gap? A case study in Benin," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    12. Werthschulte, Madeline, 2020. ""Pay-later" vs. "pay-as-you-go": Experimental evidence on present-biased overconsumption and the importance of timing," CAWM Discussion Papers 121, University of Münster, Münster Center for Economic Policy (MEP).
    13. Tonke, Sebastian, 2024. "Providing procedural knowledge: A field experiment to encourage resource conservation in Namibia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    14. Beyene, Abebe D. & Jeuland, Marc & Sebsibie, Samuel & Hassen, Sied & Mekonnen, Alemu & Meles, Tensay H. & Pattanayak, Subhrendu K. & Klug, Thomas, 2022. "Pre-paid meters and household electricity use behaviors: Evidence from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    15. Werthschulte, Madeline & Löschel, Andreas, 2021. "On the role of present bias and biased price beliefs in household energy consumption," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • L94 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Electric Utilities
    • L98 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Government Policy
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • Q41 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Demand and Supply; Prices
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy

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