Grant Smith is a PhD student within the School of Economics at the University of Cape Town. His main research areas are municipalities and municipal policy, utilities, and behavioural economics with application to public policy (particularly municipal public policy).
The standard approach to recovering the cost of electricity provision is to bill customers monthly for past consumption. If unable to pay, customers face disconnection, the utility loses revenue, and the service provision model is undermined. A possible solution to this problem is prepaid metering, in which customers buy electricity upfront and use it until the prepaid...
27 Feb 2019
28 Jul 2017 | Kelsey Jack, Grant Smith
Study examined the effects of a policy change in 2014 that switched 4,000 households on the grid in Cape Town, South Africa, to prepaid metering. Introducing prepaid meters led to a 13% drop in electricity usage – and the effect persisted throughout the two-year study, suggesting the meters helped customers better understand and take control of their energy...
19 Mar 2015 | Kelsey Jack, Grant Smith
1 Jan 2015 | Kelsey Jack, Grant Smith