A power sharing scheme in a Prepaid Power System.
Abstract
UMEME is the dominant power distributor
in Uganda. The legacy Yaka system, UMEME’s prepaid
service for customers, does not support transferring power
credit between different power meters. This paper outlines
the design and implementation of a Yaka-based power
sharing scheme that enables customers to transfer power
units from one meter to another. This is achieved through
an Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) application operating on GSM networks, facilitating service
access via token generation. A MySQL server hosts a
database for customer account information, while a scripting program manages the USSD-server communication.
Developed in Visual Studio (VS) using PHP, the system
encrypts customer data into a 20-digit token before response. Testing the system on Africa’s Talking sandbox
showed a secure, efficient, and user-friendly power sharing
scheme. UMEME’s ongoing transition from offline to online
meters with real-time server communication can potentially
enhance service deployment.