The power department has set the requirement of "full pre-payment" for electricity meters from the very beginning of the smart grid construction, hoping to achieve management and control of pre-payment on the basis of automatic meter reading of meter data.
In recent years, the local pre-paid without charge method based on C-card has been the mainstream solution for pre-paid management. However, with the development of the power sector's management and operations, it has become increasingly difficult to adapt to the changes in users' self-billing rules by relying solely on the meter for local pre-paid control. For instance, the implementation of tiered electricity pricing nationwide starting in July 2012 requires various tier settings on the meters to calculate the tiered fees with local characteristics. This poses a significant challenge for local fee control systems, as some tiered pricing calculation methods are no longer feasible within the meters.
Under such circumstances, there is room for growth in using remote meter reading or GPRS meters to replace the local meter reading stations in the pre-paid management scheme. In the master station pre-paid system, the calculation of user charges is handled by the master station, rather than by the meter itself. The meter no longer calculates electricity bills or initiates self-alarm for overdue payments or control of the switch operation. Instead, based on the centralized reading network, the master station sends remote control commands for pre-paid management, thereby controlling the switch operation of the meters. The gradual maturity of various communication technologies has stabilized the centralized reading network, also providing a solid communication foundation for the master station pre-paid system.
Different power utilities, and even different customers within the same power utility, may have varying methods of calculating electricity bills. This necessitates that the headquarter pre-paid system offers flexibility and adaptability, allowing for the configuration of corresponding billing plans based on each user's daily electricity consumption calculation methods. This ensures that the calculation of the user's account balance data at the station is as close as possible to the actual electricity usage, thereby achieving greater accuracy.
The implementation of user pre-payment management and control.
The main station pre-paid management system for configurable computing solutions combines centralized meter reading with pre-paid management technologies. Building upon centralized meter reading, it allows for flexible configuration of pre-paid computing plans. By utilizing a calculation service program, it computes pre-paid data, thereby enabling pre-paid management and control. This system provides a more reliable technical support for power supply companies to achieve automated meter reading, verification, and collection, mitigating electricity fee risks, enhancing operational efficiency, and improving management and service levels.
I. Overall System Design
The main station pre-paid management system consists of the main station software platform, DiXin Network, and on-site metering and sales equipment. For large, medium, and small users not managed by concentrators, GPRS meters are generally used for meter reading and pre-paid control: For residential users, the concentrator and remote metering with on-site network maintenance are used to achieve meter reading and pre-paid control of the switch. The more common methods now are carrier networking or ZigBee networking. The network topology structure of the system is shown in Figure 1.
The overall approach of the system is to, based on the meter data read by the collection system, calculate the user's electricity consumption costs according to the electricity fee calculation plan configured by the master station, and deduct the remaining balance from the user's account. When the remaining balance is insufficient, an alert notification is triggered. If the user is delinquent or has paid, a remote control command is sent to control the meter's opening and closing operation, thereby achieving the management and control function of pre-paid electricity.
Secondly, the main system functionality design is achieved.
Data Collection and Management
The meter reading function is the foundation for the implementation of the master station pre-paid system. The meter reading capability ensures accurate and timely collection of meter readings and other data, providing a stable foundation for the master station pre-paid system. This indicates that there is excellent communication and data exchange between the master station, GPRS meters, concentrators, and meters.
In the meter reading section, we perform foundational data management tasks for power grid hierarchical structures, GPRS meters, concentrators, and other meters. For meters under the jurisdiction of concentrators, we support downloading meter reading parameters into the concentrator. The system can collect electricity usage information for various customers as needed, including energy data, operational data, and genuine record data. The system supports automatic collection and sale of data at scheduled intervals, random collection and sale, and active reporting of data by GPRS meters/concentrators. The system provides data analysis and storage capabilities, ensuring data accuracy and security.
2 Electricity Sales Management
This section focuses on the key operations of the main website's pre-paid power supply. If the power supply is managed through the marketing system, it requires timely data exchange between the marketing module on the system's main station to reflect the sales records formed by marketing promptly in the pre-paid system's main station. If the power supply is completed by the pre-paid system's main station, the system main station supports both mobile POS power supply and sales office power supply methods. For sales office power supply, staff at the power supply office can directly perform sales operations on the main station's WEB business platform. Mobile POS power supply is provided by the agents of the power authority through mobile POS terminals, offering power supply services to users, facilitating their payment and recharge processes.
3 Pre-Paid Calculation Plan Configuration
The primary function of the main station pre-payment system is to calculate utility costs based on original electricity data, combined with sales data. The calculation methods for electricity fees vary significantly among different power bureaus and utility customers. As the main station system, custom development for various users is a massive task that is not easily achievable. This system's main station, by integrating the fee calculation methods of different power bureaus and users, extracts various calculation components such as kilowatt-hour fees, basic fees, line loss fees, transformer loss fees, pending tax fees, and power factor adjustment fees, and calculates them separately. Each calculation component may have its own distinct method, such as the possibility of including or excluding tiered fees in kilowatt-hour fees; the basic fee might be calculated based on the transformer capacity of the user or on the user's monthly demand; the power factor adjustment fee calculation may need to consider transformer loss, line loss, lighting ratios, and other factors. Therefore, it is necessary to select the relevant calculation components according to the actual fee calculation methods of the users and configure the corresponding components as needed to form a specific user pre-payment calculation plan. This approach allows for a greater degree of adaptation to the electricity fee calculation needs of various user types, aiming to make the system's fee calculations more accurately reflect actual electricity usage. The configuration of the pre-payment calculation plan is illustrated in Figure 2.
Figure 1: Main website prepayment business management system network topology diagram.
Figure 2: Illustration of the main site pre-paid calculation scheme configuration
$4 Pre-Paid Calculation
With accurate electricity data obtained from centralized meter reading, and the electricity bill calculation plan configured, we can proceed with the calculation and analysis of the remaining balance in customer accounts. The system master station automatically initiates the scheduled calculation tasks to compute electricity consumption, while also calculating the remaining balance in customer accounts. For GPRS meter users, calculations are typically performed every 15 minutes or once per hour, based on meter reading density. For residential users, the remaining balance is usually calculated once a day, allowing for timely reflection of customers' remaining balances.
The pre-paid system's main station calculates the remaining balance based on the service's computation. When the remaining balance falls below the predefined threshold, it promptly notifies and reminds users via methods like Hengxin, ensuring timely payment and refills. In case the remaining balance becomes negative and the user fails to pay on time, the main station can automatically send a remote control command to the user's meter for disconnection. The instructions are transmitted with a security authentication mechanism to ensure safety. After the user replenishes the payment, the system automatically reconnects the power. Additionally, the main station supports customizing batch SMS messages, allowing flexible editing of content based on the SMS template, to notify users as needed.
III. Key System Features
The integration of various communication technologies with electricity meter control technologies
Combining GPRS communication technology, ZigBee wireless communication, carrier communication, and remote control technology for meter switching, this innovation not only meets the needs of meter data reading but also calculates users' remaining balances and automatically initiates disconnection for non-payment and reconnection upon payment. This creates a pre-paid management system where payments are made in advance, reducing the risk of non-payment for power suppliers, lessening the workload on meter readers, and enhancing the operational efficiency of power companies.
2 Flexibility in Pre-Paid Data Calculation
The configurable pre-paid calculation plan makes it possible to calculate electricity bills for various types of users, enhancing the product's adaptability and flexibility. It facilitates accurate pre-paid data calculations for the main station, thereby enabling effective implementation and management of pre-paid services.
3 Human-Centric Reminder Notification Services
In cases where users' remaining balance is insufficient, promptly notify them to recharge their accounts. The SMS content can include payment notifications, other relevant information alerts, meter event notifications, etc. By doing so, we can timely grasp the operating status of the meter, ensuring its normal operation. Additionally, this convenience allows users to monitor their electricity usage information at any time, ensuring timely payment to maintain uninterrupted electricity supply.
4 Convenient and Flexible Payment and Recharge Methods
If the payment recharge data comes from the marketing system, it can fully utilize the convenient payment and recharge channels of the marketing system, including interbank linkage, online payment, and more. If the pre-paid main station manages the electricity sales independently, it can also expand mobile POS payment services on the basis of supporting sales at business halls, making payment and recharge quick and easy for customers. After payment, remote automatic disconnection can be achieved quickly, ensuring the efficiency and level of pre-paid control.
Section 4: Acrelcloud-3200 Pre-Paid Water and Electricity Cloud Platform
1. Overview
The AcrelCloud-3200 Pre-paid Electricity and Water Cloud Platform is a sales management system developed by Ankelei Company, designed for use with the DDSY-1352 Single-phase Electronic Pre-paid Energy Meter and the DTSY-1352 Three-phase Electronic Pre-paid Energy Meter. It also supports optional remote transmission valve-controlled water meters to form an integrated pre-paid electricity and water system, achieving the goal of paying first and then using. The remaining water volume automatically closes the valve when depleted. It primarily handles the parameter settings for electricity and water meters, merchant electricity/water sales management, and energy consumption management. It is user-friendly, enabling property management companies to remotely operate and monitor in real-time, featuring a good human-machine interface and effective data statistics and management. Easy to install, it is an ideal product for power management departments, commercial plazas, and residential communities to improve electricity and water usage management levels and solve the difficulty of billing issues.
2 Application Scenarios
This platform is suitable for apartment renters, shopping malls, apartment hotels, property communities, office buildings, logistics warehouses, universities, chain supermarkets, smart parks, and farmers' markets, among other locations.
3 System Architecture
4 System Features
4.1 Room Surveillance
Concise display of all room status information, including building floor, online disconnection status, and billing status. Accessing room details allows for viewing real-time information and understanding daily electricity consumption and usage amounts. Remote control operations on room meters are available, such as account opening, electricity price setting, selling and returning electricity, alarm amount setting, and switch operations.
4.2 Power Meter Installation
The system supports both individual meters per shop and multiple meters per shop; it allows for customizable electricity pricing plans, including single price, peak/off-peak pricing, and tiered pricing: it enables pre-setting account information for one-click account opening later; it supports setting the default alert level for total meter consumption alerts to level three, with customizable alert amounts and frequency. Push notification methods include SMS, app notifications, email, voice calls, and WeChat official account messages.
4.3 Charging and Payment
Remote top-ups are available for meters that have already been activated, with electricity fees being real-time distributed to the meters. The meters deduct electricity costs in real-time as the electricity consumption increases, and the system also supports early billing, with the amount being transferred to the system account quickly and stably.
4.4 Financial Management
Order Overview includes all water and electricity recharge and refund records in the system, as well as property fee deduction records. Revenue Summary allows for the analysis of water and electricity revenue and composition from various dimensions such as daily, monthly, annual, and time spans.
4.5 Report
The system also offers multiple reports for inquiry. The Comprehensive Power Consumption Report assists in financial statistics by providing the total power consumption of shops per month, peak and off-peak power consumption, electricity bills, and year-on-year energy consumption analysis, which allows for a comparison of energy consumption gaps between each month and the same period last year. The Daily, Monthly, and Annual Energy Consumption Report queries the energy consumption of each stage of the meter from three different dimensions: daily, monthly, and annually.
4.6 Batch Operation
To facilitate the management and configuration of a large number of meters, users can create batch operation tasks within the system, such as setting electricity rates, meter control, meter settings, and top-ups. These batch tasks can be executed immediately or scheduled for later.
4.7 Custom Pricing Plans
To accommodate users' diverse billing needs, such as property fees, rent, and service charges, the system supports user-defined billing items. The billing method can be set to directly deduct from the account or generate a reminder invoice. Users can opt for periodic or one-time billing, charge by a fixed amount, or calculate based on room square footage, and more.
4.8 Allocation of Electricity Consumption in Public Areas
A primary table is designated, followed by the allocation of associated sub-tables. The system automatically converts the electricity usage from the primary table into electricity charges on a proportional basis, deducting it from the sub-tables, thus eliminating the need for manual statistical work. There are various methods of cost allocation, including proportional distribution, distribution based on room area, and distribution based on usage. The billing methods include direct deduction or the generation of maintenance fee invoices.
Post-paid model after 4.9
Post-paid electricity bills generated on a per-date basis for customers, confirmed data creates billing statements for easy tracking of customer payments. The bills and overdue notices can be exported to notify customers.
4.10 Online Payment on Official Account
Users can conveniently check their electricity meter usage and make payments through the WeChat Mini Program or official WeChat account.
System Hardware Configuration 5
V. Conclusion
The configurable pre-paid computing scheme's main station pre-paid management system is now undergoing phased pilot operations in Shaanxi, Heilongjiang, and other regions. Leveraging its flexibility in pre-paid computing and stable meter reading application capabilities, the system is gradually showcasing its advantages. It is believed that during the development of the smart grid, it will be widely accepted by users and effectively enhance the operational efficiency and management level of power authorities.
