Now, city engg students develop 'pre-paid meter'

“When everything was pre-paid, why not electricity?’ thought three students from the National Institute of Engineering (NIE), Mysore while planning for their project work in the final year of their engineering degree.

The idea of a pre-paid electricity meter that had crept into their head in 2010, took two years to become a reality, with the completion of the project.

Sumit Prasad Surendra, Satyam Dhar and Sayed Gayas Mohiuddin, are those students of the department of electronics and communication who had come up with this innovative device.  They are now employed in different companies.

The pre-paid electricity meter is similar to a sim card or the set top box that offers different channels if you pay the specified price.

But, when the same technique is implemented for electricity meters, there is a lot of scope to conserve electricity, said Sumit Prasad Surendra, one of the developers of the device.

“When you pay for something in advance, you will be cautious about using it,” he observed, pointing out that the device could possibly help in reducing the wastage of electricity.

Technology

The device consists of a GSM port, used in mobile phones, which will be connected to the electricity meter at home.

A microcontroller in the kit installed to the meter keeps count of the electricity units consumed and accordingly decrements the number of units of the energy consumed.
 The number of units left and the number of units consumed will be displayed on a digital display.  It would also alert the consumer about the number of electric units remaining in his/ her quota.

Sayed Gayas Mohiuddin said that the process of recharging electricity supply, ‘would be as easy as recharging your cellphone.’ And if the available units are low, then the device would send an alert via SMS.

The team had also planned to design a similiar device for electric poles, which would have been a boon to check illegal electricity connections. Since the usage of electricity of a house could be remotely monitored, it would have been easy to detect electricity thefts and to manage its usage.

Concern

Despite the practicality of the project, it appears that the project would never be of any use to the public till the authorities concerned show some interest. When affording power  is becoming a costly affair, such venture with advanced technology may draw people without any fuss.