A NEW SUBSCRIPTION MODEL

I live in India and here we face a lot of problems when it comes to electricity like load shedding, high electricity charges in metropolitan societies and the electricity bills differ as per the states and areas which makes some people less charges compared to others from other cities where the former’s consumption must be more than later. 

Due to the above reasons by introducing a subscription model, this will make it possible for people to as per a pay-as-you-go model as follows:

a. This service enables users to pay for their electricity consumption based on a subscription model. Users now face load shedding issues and pay higher charges for the consumption based on the area and many times end up paying for electricity even when they don’t use it while this new service enables users to pay only for the electricity they use.

b. This is not a monthly, weekly or daily plan but is a unit-based plan wherein a user pays for a plan which is available in units wherein a user can choose from 10-unit plan to 100 to 1000+ based on his consumption and requirement. It will be a prepaid plan as opposed to a postpaid plan (which he can choose as per his preference) and he will have an app that gets updated every minute and lets him know how many units have been consumed and how many are left in his plan just like our internet data plan.

c. Internet plans are data-based or unlimited and don’t have proper signal in some areas while streaming services are country-based (certain movies are available only in specific regions) and all services don’t offer proper sharing services while the electricity subscription plan doesn’t have any such restrictions and is available in every area/region based on the same pricing plan while taxes applicable would differ. There is also a sharing model wherein users can share their units with other users and the same service could be used by multiple users at the same time without having any device-based restrictions. 

The electricity-based subscription service would have the following features:

i. Subscription plan: Household plan:10, 100, 1000, 1001+ units (each extra unit would come with a base charge of Rs. 5) . Commercial plan: 1000, 10000, 20000 units…(each extra unit would come with a base charge of Rs. 10)

ii. Connections: Users could choose to install the services at more than one place and the user would only need to pay a one-time fee for installation and can then use units as per his need by selecting his houses.

iii. Start/Stop/Pause: After purchasing the plan, the user can choose to start his plan and his electricity supply would start and he would get notifications via email/sms or via an app based on his preference. Similarly, he could choose to pause and stop his electricity supply.  

iv. Sharing: The use could choose to share with multiple users and given an option to do so wherein he can choose at first to share with a particular number of users and then edit or delete the users. He can choose to give the users access to his units either to view them or use them or borrow them or keep them private. All the units can be used simultaneously.

v. Marketplace: There would be an option wherein a user can either choose to buy units from this service (Rs. 5/unit) or from individual users at a lower price and they can even choose to sell their units at a lower price than what the service offers. The buy/sell orders will not be subject to any trading fee but cannot be sold via external sources.

vi. Buyback: The service can buy back the units purchased by the user at a fixed rate lower/higher than the market in bulk.

vii. Donate: A user can even donate his units to under-privileged or charity organizations who can get electricity for free from this service. He can also donate his units to other users.

viii. Complaint box: Any complaint regarding the services or plan consumptions or misuse of the units can be registered with this option and immediate responses would be given.

ix. Discounts/Vouchers: Electricity vouchers can be also purchased and if a user purchases above 10000 units for his household at one time in the form of vouchers or via a plan, he can avail discounts.

The above features will be available without any network or coverage issues and would work as follows:

A user would buy a subscription of, for example, 1000 units. He starts the service and his electricity supply is switched ON. He pauses it when he is asleep or to check his consumption and when he chooses to stop, his supply gets shut down and no more units are consumed. For each option he would have to enter a 2FA code to prevent misuse. He chooses to share 100 units with user A, 200 units with user B and chose to donate 50 units to charity. He can see how many units are being consumed by other users whom he has shared units with and he can choose to take back any unconsumed units at any time. He can also sell the unconsumed units in the marketplace.

Inspiration:

I have lived in an area that has rare power cuts while now I am temporarily living in an area that has frequent power cuts. I have noticed that compared to the former place in the same state, I am paying more in the current area for each unit of electricity. I also pay a fixed monthly rental fee even though I don’t use any in the previous house which is unfair and when I am travelling, I don’t use any electricity at home and hence I thought of a subscription model that lets me per as per my use.

Benefits:

The consumers would love to have a subscription model for electricity and share units with their family members and even buy/sell units in the marketplace and all at the same price without having to pay any fixed monthly rental. Especially in India where the charges are heavy for electricity and many areas suffer from load-shedding like Navi Mumbai, Bangalore and so on, this subscription model would be a relief for all the residents.