By Goth Mohamed Goth
While electricity companies promote new prepaid smart meters as a step toward modernization, a closer examination reveals significant negative consequences for ordinary citizens, particularly the poor, the elderly, and the already unemployed.
- Immediate Job Losses for Meter Readers
The most direct human cost is the elimination of meter reader jobs. Hundreds, potentially thousands, of young people—many of whom had few other employment options—earned a living by manually recording electricity usage. In a country already suffering from chronic youth unemployment, this technological shift is not progress; it is a mass layoff. These workers are not being retrained or redeployed. They are simply pushed onto the streets, adding to an already overwhelming crisis of joblessness.
- Loss of Financial Flexibility and Dignity
Traditional post-paid meters allowed families to use electricity for a full month before paying. This gave households time to manage irregular incomes, unexpected expenses, or delays in salary. The new prepaid system destroys that flexibility.
· No more credit: If a family runs out of funds mid-month, the lights go out immediately. There is no grace period, no promise to pay later, no human being to explain your situation to.
· Forced advance payment: You must pay before you consume, which is impossible for many poor families who live hand-to-mouth. This turns electricity from a basic service into a luxury good.
- Automatic Cutoffs – No Exceptions for Emergencies
Because the system is fully automated, it cannot show mercy. Consider these real-life scenarios:
· A sick child at night: A family runs out of credit at 2 AM. Their refrigerator containing life-saving medicine (like insulin) stops. Their room goes dark. There is no company office open, no human operator to call, no way to restore power until morning at the earliest.
· An elderly person living alone: An old woman forgets to recharge because she is ill or confused. Her electricity is cut without warning. She sits in darkness and heat, unable to fix the problem herself.
· Ramadan or holidays: Families often increase spending on food and charity during religious holidays, leaving less for bills. Under the old system, they could still have light. Under prepaid meters, they would sit in darkness during the very nights meant for prayer and family.
The old system had a human link: a meter reader could report a hardship case, a neighbor could intervene, a local office could show discretion. The automated system has no heart.
- Hidden Costs and Complexity for the Poor
Prepaid meters require purchasing special recharge cards (similar to SIM cards) and often involve additional fees for checking balances, reactivating after cutoff, or even for the card itself. These small charges add up, disproportionately affecting low-income users. Moreover, the technology assumes literacy and comfort with digital systems. An illiterate grandmother or a poor farmer may struggle to understand how to buy the right card, enter the code correctly, or track their remaining balance. Mistakes lead to sudden darkness.
- Psychological Burden and Anxiety
Living with a prepaid meter creates constant stress. Families must constantly calculate: How many units do we have left? Will we make it through the night? Should we buy food or electricity? This is not dignity; it is a daily anxiety. The old system at least gave a sense of security: power was there until the bill came. Now, power can vanish any second, without warning, like a candle burning out.
- No Incentive for Efficiency – Only for Payment
The companies claim prepaid meters encourage energy conservation. But for poor families already using the bare minimum (a few lights, a fan, a phone charger), there is nothing to conserve. They are already at subsistence level. The only thing the meter does is ensure they pay before consuming – which benefits the company’s cash flow, not the customer’s well-being.
Conclusion: Technology for Whom?
A technology that eliminates jobs, punishes the poor, ignores emergencies, and adds psychological stress is not progress. It is a regression disguised as modernization. The Ministry of Energy must intervene not to stop innovation, but to regulate it: mandate a minimum credit reserve for emergencies, ban automatic nighttime cutoffs, require a grace period, and force companies to retrain displaced meter readers rather than firing them.
Otherwise, the smart meter becomes nothing more than a digital chain on the poorest citizens.
