The Institute of Information and Communication Technology (IICT) of Banglad-esh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) has designed the pre-paid meter called "i power" and other necessary billing equipment.

"This is a pilot project of Tk 4.5 crore. In the first phase, 5,000 single-phase meters will be manufactured," said Saleh Ahmed, managing director of Desco which signed an agreement with the IICT in last September.

"Initially 4,000 meters will be installed and the rest 1,000 will be kept as back-up," Saleh said. "Two vending stations, a system master station (SMS) and Desco staff training are also included in the project," he added.

He said the pre-paid metering system would be customer-friendly as this will remove hassle of paying bills at banks and fear of 'ghost bills.' This will also put an end to the disputes between house-owners and tenants over electricity bill.

In the pre-paid system, there will be no minimum charge. "Moreover, a customer will be able to control his consumption to keep it within his personal budget," Saleh said. The judicious use of electricity will decrease the overall consumption.

Saleh said the pre-paid system will help Desco contain power theft and meter tampering.

Sector four and six of Uttara Model Town have been chosen for the pilot project of pre-paid meters. "It will be easier for us to monitor the project in Uttara where most connections are single-phase," said Desco Director (Technical) Manzur Rahman.

He said Desco will not charge the customers any installation charge in this pilot project.

The IICT has brought the components of the meter from Indonesia and Hong Kong. There are two types of pre-paid meters available globally -- key pad and smart card. Desco has chosen the smart card type meter.

Once the pre-paid meter is fixed, a customer will be able to buy electricity from nearby vending stations and then use it.

The meter panel will display present electricity load, used amount of power and its price. The micro controller programme inside the meter will do the billing according to Desco's different rate at different slab.

The customers will get 2 percent rebate in pre-paid metering system. "Usually Desco charges 2 percent extra when the bill is paid after a month. But here the customer is paying bill beforehand," said a Desco official.

The meter will also indicate the gradual diminishing of purchased power. There will be a blue light when 10 percent of purchased electricity remains and it will turn green when it reaches 5 percent. Finally a third alert will be given through blinking red signal along with five beeping sound when it reaches 2 percent.

The pre-paid meter will automatically terminate connection when purchased power is finished and the customer will have to buy again from the vending station.

The vending stations will remain open everyday from 9:00 am to 9:00pm.