A smart energy meter is used to measure electrical current flow and voltage at regular intervals. It calculates the energy consumption and shows it on the display of the meter installed at your home. It sends this information to your power/energy supplier also using a communication link like wide area network (WAN).
In a prepaid smart energy meter, the consumer buys a recharge card and pays for the energy units required by him in advance, like the prepaid connection for a mobile phone. The balance amount keeps reducing with each unit of energy consumed. If the balance amount becomes zero, the power supply automatically gets cut off. When you top-up your prepaid card, the balance increases accordingly and the relay (an automatic switch) allows power to start flowing once again.
There are many advantages of a prepaid smart energy meter. It allows you to calculate your daily usage and manage your account via a smartphone app or web portal. As consumer, you can view your current balance and estimated usage for the days ahead.
You will be notified via text message or email about daily energy consumption and your existing balance. This will help you to know when to recharge the prepaid card before the balance becomes zero. The display of the prepaid energy meter also shows your energy consumption and the balance amount.
The meter shows energy consumption in kilo-watt-hours (or kWh), where one kWh refers to the unit of energy required to provide 1000 watts of power for one hour.
