Replication data for: Pay as You Go: Prepaid Metering and Electricity Expenditures in South Africa

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) B. Kelsey Jack; Grant Smith

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Project Citation:

Jack, B. Kelsey, and Smith, Grant. Replication data for: Pay as You Go: Prepaid Metering and Electricity Expenditures in South Africa. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2015. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2019-10-12. https://doi.org/10.3886/E113412V1

Project Description

Summary: High rates of customer default on utility bills present a barrier to the expansion of electricity access in the developing world. Pre-paid electricity metering offers a technological solution to ensuring timely payment. Using an eleven-year panel of pre-paid electricity customers in Cape Town, South Africa, we describe patterns of purchase behavior across property values, our measure of socioeconomic status. Poorer households buy electricity more often, in smaller increments, and are most likely to buy on payday. These patterns suggest difficulties smoothing income, and reveal a preference for small, frequent purchases that is incompatible with a standard monthly electricity billing cycle.

Scope of Project

JEL Classification:
      L94 Electric Utilities
      L98 Industry Studies: Utilities and Transportation: Government Policy
      O13 Economic Development: Agriculture; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Other Primary Products
      Q48 Energy: Government Policy

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V1 [2019-10-12]

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