Pay first, then use.

That is how all homes could be buying electricity, from their provider of choice, under the world's first proposed prepaid electronic system linked to "intelligent" meters.

Gone would be the existing meter currently read manually by SP Services staff every other month. In would come a new device that would display, and refresh half-hourly, the amount of electricity you have left.

As reported by this newspaper earlier, households would be able to buy credits through mobile phones, ATMs, the Internet and even at convenience stores.

Besides logging your gas and water usage, the meter could also double as a home monitoring system or fire alarm, said Mr Soh Siew Cheong, senior adviser to the Energy Market Authority (EMA), at a workshop on smart energy yesterday.

Giving details of the proposed electricity vending system that was revealed in Parliament last month, Mr Soh said: "Anybody can buy any amount of electricity from any retailer, anytime, anywhere and through any means."

The EMA, which is creating a prototype of the vending system, plans to conduct a trial for some 1,000 households in 2009, Mr Soh said.

If this proves feasible, there could be a full-scale roll-out that could cost "hundreds of millions of dollars", save households some money in the long term, and help reduce arrears.

The new system would do away with monthly bills and the cash deposit required to maintain an account.

Households would also have real choice for the first time — with several power suppliers, not just SP Services, vying for their dollar. Consumers would get to compare prices — which would fluctuate through the day — at all points-of-sale, said Mr Soh.

Residents of an estate may even band together to negotiate with retailers for discounted prices, he added.

Several industry pundits, who were flown in to speak and to assess local public-sector energy proposals at the workshop organised by A*Star, hailed the proposal that EMA has submitted for patenting.

One asked how the authority would react to consumers who try to buy, say, $100,000 worth of electricity at one shot. Mr Soh said retailers would decide their own "comfort level": "We will leave it to the market to sort itself out."

Allowing households to choose their power supplier will mark the last stage of the energy market's liberalisation begun in 2001. - TODAY/fa