Minutes: The Meter Is the Cashier — Epoche B1
Acacia House: minutes of the house meeting Date: Friday 15th March, 7:30 p.m., in the kitchen Present: Wanjiru (chair), Daniel, Grace, Juma, Mercy Apologies: Sam (night shift) Minutes: Grace Item: the electricity meter 1. The problem Twice in February the power went out at night - once at 23:40, once at two in the morning - both times for the same reason: nobody had bought units. Wanjiru reminded the meeting that this was no grid power cut: the house meter is prepaid. Electricity here is bought before it is used, and when the bought units are finished, the meter switches the house off by itself, at whatever hour that happens to be. 2. How the meter works, recorded for Sam Grace summarised. The prepaid system is called LUKU - Lipa Umeme Kadiri Utumiavyo , pay for electricity as you use it. Whoever pays, by phone or at a kiosk, receives a 20-digit token; typed into the meter's keypad, the token loads the units. A token belongs to this meter alone - a neighbour's number is useless in ours, and ours in theirs - so a receipt lost before entry is a real loss. There is no monthly bill, no debt, and nobody comes to disconnect anyone: the meter itself is the cashier. 3. Agreed The meter is read every Sunday evening; the number goes on the kitchen board. Below 20 units, whoever sees it buys the same day and is repaid from the tin. Each of the six pays 8,000 shillings into the tin on the 1st. Receipts stay in the tin until the units appear. A torch lives on the fridge, on Daniel's suggestion, "for the Sundays we forget". 4. Next meeting Friday 26th April, 7:30 p.m., kitchen. Daniel to chair. References Mbiti, J. S. (1969). African Religions and Philosophy. Heinemann. Nyerere, J. K. (1968). Ujamaa: Essays on Socialism. Oxford University Press.