4. e-Payment on Electricity Prepaid Meter Token (09B4107)

The Department of Electrical Services (DES) had a pilot project on prepaid metering in 1996 and since 1998 has started the prepaid metering system. Until now, the token can only be purchased from the DES counters during office hours only except for Friday, where the counters open from 8.00am to 11.00am. All counters are closed during weekend and public holidays.

The old prepaid meter shows the amount display on the screen so that consumers can easily monitor the available credit and they can control their electrical consumption and spend as much they can afford.

With the introduction of the new prepaid meter, consumers have difficulty in monitoring the available credit because the display is not shown in dollar amount but in kilowatt-hour, which they find it difficult to read and do not know when to purchase their token and this results in low credit which can happens anytime during the day and night and even worse during weekends and public holidays.

Most consumers didn’t notice when they are running out of credit, even though there is an alert or a warning of low credit when the amount is less than $20.00 and an electrical trip when the amount is $5.00 and below, and worst more with the new prepaid meter which only shows the available kilowatt-hour. At least when this happened anytime no matter during the day, night, weekend and public holidays, consumer could purchase their token online. To justify this are examples of sick people at home like those kidney patients who are using the Automated Peritoneal Dialysis Treatment at home and especially those with newborn babies.

To encourage people to use the prepaid meter system, the government should make initiatives to liaise with banks for consumers to easily purchase the token through online. This does not only to improve the cash flow of the government where in December 2005 the DES records debts in arrears of unpaid electricity bills amounting to $250 million. This is also to create energy awareness to educate Bruneian families, businesses and government agencies about the importance of energy savings. The electrical power comes from the conversion of natural gas and oil, which are burnt to generate electricity. By creating and maintaining an energy efficient environment, it can greatly reduce the cost of consumers’ electricity bills, and help the nation in protecting the environment and safeguarding the future of natural oil and gas.