Pay as You Go: Prepaid Metering and Electricity Expenditures in South Africa

Journal Article

2015

Permanent link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/11427/35046
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JackBKelsey_Pay_as_You_Go_P_2015.pdf (584.62 KB)
Authors
Jack, B Kelsey
Smith, Grant
Journal Title

American Economic Review

Link to Journal
https://dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer.p20151096
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Publisher
Department
School of Economics
Faculty
Faculty of Commerce
License
Series
Abstract
High rates of customer default on utility bills present a barrier to the expansion of electricity access in the developing world. Pre-paid electricity metering offers a technological solution to ensuring timely payment. Using an eleven-year panel of pre-paid electricity customers in Cape Town, South Africa, we describe patterns of purchase behavior across property values, our measure of socioeconomic status. Poorer households buy electricity more often, in smaller increments, and are most likely to buy on payday. These patterns suggest difficulties smoothing income, and reveal a preference for small, frequent purchases that is incompatible with a standard monthly electricity billing cycle.
Description
Keywords
Burns
Disaster Planning
Humans
Mass Casualty Incidents
National Health Programs
Practice Guidelines as Topic
Societies, Medical
South Africa

Reference:

Jack, B.K. & Smith, G. 2015. Pay as You Go: Prepaid Metering and Electricity Expenditures in South Africa. American Economic Review. 105(5):237 - 241. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/35046

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