College of Humanities & Social Sciences

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Browsing College of Humanities & Social Sciences by Author "Ababio, Erica Adjei"

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    Assessment of prepaid metering system in Ghana: consumer perception analysis.
    (KNUST, 2018-09) Ababio, Erica Adjei
    The energy sector over the years has witnessed initiated policies to increase customer satisfaction while at the same time solving the problems of administrative inefficiencies in the operation of the sector. This therefore erupted the need to come out with an alternative means of billing the electricity consumption of the consumers, hence the emergence of the prepayment meter system. The study assesses Consumer perception about Prepaid Metering System in Ghana: A case study of the Ejisu District within the Ejisu-Juaben Municipal Assembly in the Ashanti region of Ghana. The study adopted a quantitative approach. The research population focused on prepaid meter users of Ejisu district out of which a sample size of 51 was sampled for the analysis. The sources of data were mainly primary source. The researcher adopted purposive and convenient sampling techniques in soliciting information for the study. Statistical package for Social Science (SPSS) and Microsoft excel was used in analyzing the data. The study established that, with the introduction of prepaid meter, consumers are now careful with the consumption of electricity, payment has reduced drastically; customers again buy credit at their own convenience and do not fear any disconnection, they don‟t pay any money when they don‟t use the meter, no more disappointment when one is uncertain how much to pay when post meters are disconnected and no need to pay for re-connection. Again findings revealed that, efficiency, no accumulated debt, ease of purchase, paying upfront, quick response, and post payment meter ease the use of prepaid metering. Furthermore, not convenient use, blackout, spending more money, fight over sharing of bill, difficulty in pre financing, disadvantageous to the poor and less education were the challenges encountered by customers in using prepaid metering. The study recommended that, more education on the use of prepaid metering should be intensified so as to inform customers about the need for them to switch to the prepaid metering system and this should be done diligently in order to avoid any misinformation and its subsequent effect on consumer‟s perception.