No need to tell the company how much you want, but they can estimate your monthly consumption based on previous history.
You just use and pay the bill at the end of the month.
Yes, exactly.
Until now, I thought we all used prepaid and postpaid all around the world. Shocker.
Nope, you're the minority, but I think the company over there knows why they use this system. Most likely some of the users won't pay and they would register huge losses. Terms are strict here. You have a certain period to pay, after which you're disconnected and to reconnect to the system, you need to pay a fine, which is quite substantial. I'm always paying my bills, as soon as I get them. There are no power cuts here either 😇
You got that right!
I’m sure the power cut when people fail to pay their bills over there is automatic. Here, it’s not. The VRA personnels walk around town, climb the polls and disconnect lights manually.
How this is a problem is that us Africans tend to leverage our relationships with some of the VRA agents and even result to begging not to be disconnected sometimes. Aside this, I’ve seen cases of people waiting for the VRA agents under the polls with cutlasses after they come to disconnect. I’m sure you get what I mean.
Still though, some people use postpaid, but it’s a hassle getting them to pay up. I’ve heard some households be in power debt up to close to $1000. It’s serious. That wouldn’t happen with prepaid subscriptions because you get what you pay for.
It's not automated here, it's done manually, but it's done without delay, no mercy and there's no negotiation regarding your debt. The only excuse is if someone in the household is on life support. Otherwise they drop the hammer.
I'm transmitting the index of the meter monthly, online, but I have to let the company rep in, to check the meter from time to time, let him take a photo of the meter. Fail to do that and I'm disconnected. Some meters are digital and those are transmitting data automatically to the company. The process is automated. They are going to install those meters everywhere but the process takes time and it's not exactly cheap either.
There are thefts as well, but if you're caught, you go to jail. There are difficult areas, where people are not nice, to put it mildly, so in those areas, the electricity company reps are going with the police and the commando unit, you know, the boys in black, with masks. So no chance for any tricks as you get arrested the minute you try to do something.
That will never happen here, after 45 days you're disconnected and can only be connect back, if you pay. If you don't, after awhile you go to court. It's a slightly different story with companies as bills are a bit bigger, but they don't get a free pass either.