Pre-Paid Electric Meters Coming to Haiti

Below is a CNN-Money article on a company which has received exclusive rights for household electricity monitors in Haiti.  It made me remember when I visited the local electricity bureau (EDH) in Hinche.  The officials said they would set up my house for electricity but never came.  Because of the wait, a friend insisted on getting a ladder, cutting open the line, and splicing a wire to my house.  It worked.  The EDH officials say people are stealing electricity.  The consumer says EDH is slow and unresponsive.  Both are right.  Perhaps these new devices can help make both parties happy? Time will tell.

International Business Ventures Group Inc. Receives Exclusive Marketing Rights for Pre-Paid Electric Meters in Haiti (CNN-Money)

The Digital "Prepay" Electric Collar (P2EC) Unit offers the next level of support to address the emerging need of providing safe management of high risk electric customers. The P2EC uses the existing wireless infrastructure of the cellular networks to provide two-way communication from a central command and control center to the residential electric customer.

The P2EC is a collar based sub-meter that monitors power consumption at a customer's location. The usage is fed into an imbedded processor which manages the usage rate based on the power consumption. The onboard intelligence in the processor collects and monitors the power consumption based on 15 minute readings. The processor calculates the estimated power remaining every 5 seconds and sends alerts to command and control for customer notification.

P2EC has the ability to assist the small and large electric providers with managing the cost associated with high risk customers.  International Business Ventures Group began talks with The Ministry for Public Works Bureau of Mines and Energy to provide the P2EC to over 7.9 million residential customers in Haiti. Based on the data provided from the Public Works Bureau of Mines and Energy, total electricity consumption in households is estimated at 266 GWH with over 689,000 illegal connections.

Currently less than 30% of all households are connected to power and 12.5% of those connections are illegal. The P2EC will provide a safe and secure way to prevent electric theft to customers and providers. The P2EC would provide an estimated annual savings of over $1.2 Billion in illegal connections.