The design of future prepayment systems

Over the next few years, the UK government plans to split the functions of electricity distribution and marketing. The authors discuss how prepayment and other metering systems can be adapted to cope. They propose a key management scheme whereby the distributor can delegate authority over a meter to a marketing company, which in turn can delegate to its agent. Their scheme controls risk by enabling the distributor to reconcile energy with cash and to revoke agents or even marketing companies that default, and to regain control over the meter