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Running head: PROBLEM STATEMENT & RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Problem Statement & Research Questions

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Problem Statement & Research Questions
Part 1
Problem statement
Achieving efficient management and control of electricity tokens remains a top concern
for both electricity users and the electricity company. The current systems are mainly manual in
nature and depend on meter readers, who have to travel everywhere to get electricity readings
before users can be issued with their bills to pay (Khan, Zoha & Ali, n.d.). This system is
inconvenient and inefficient for the modern technological world. There is need to come up with a
technological solution for this challenge, to ensure that both the electricity company and the
users have high flexibility and efficiency in managing and controlling electricity usage. Users
need to have the ease of reading their electricity bills, ease of paying their bills, ease of filing
complaints, and ease of calling for help in case they need it. The electricity company also
requires flexibility in managing their users. The new system will help them to cut operational
costs related to transportation costs used by meter readers to get meter readings from the various
users.
❖ Purpose of the project
The purpose of the project is to digitize electricity management and distribution, to
ensure that users and the electricity company have high flexibility and efficiency in tracking and
managing the use and payment of electricity tokens. The new system is set to enable users track
and pay for their electricity at the comfort of their homes. It will also enable the company to
track user usage of electricity as well as manage complaints efficiently.
❖

Population (how many people are affecting? Age of the people how are affecting.

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The problem of electricity usage and tracking affects all electricity users in Pakistan. All
users are affected by the negative aspects of the manual system including erroneous meter
readings, lack of flexibility in paying their bills, lack of an efficient complaints filing system, and
such issues (Sahu & Murmu, 2012). The electricity company is also affected and forced to incur
high costs of transportation and the inflexibility of using the analog system to manage electricity
management and usage among users (Khan, Zoha & Ali, n.d.).
❖

How you are going to resolve it? (In short summary with in two sentences)
The current problem regarding the management and control of electricity billing will be

solved by introducing two systems for the management and tracking of electricity usage among
users. The first system is the MoBEBIS mobile system application and the second system is a
website (Rathnayaka et al., 2013). The mobile system will be used by users and meter readers to
get meter readings, file complaints regarding electricity usage, pay their prepaid electricity bills,
track their electricity usage each month, and many other uses. On the other hand, the website will
mainly be used by the electricity company and meter readers to get a mapping of all the users
using their services, getting the meter readings of the various users, tracking complaints of users,
tracking the payment of users and such things.
❖

Facts (shows that your problem is a problem)
The problem of electricity management and control is a major problem in Pakistan

considering that the electricity company still uses analog systems to get meter readings and
manage their users. The analog system is based on the electricity company relying on the meter
readers, who have to travel to the resident of the users to get meter readings (Khan, Zoha & Ali,
n.d.). This is ultimately expensive for the electricity company. Another challenge associated with
this system is the rigidity it has such that users are not able to see and track their electricity usage

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until a meter reader comes around. The payment system is also rigid such that meter readers have
to come around and give the readings to the users before they can pay. The errors associated with
the manual meter reading are also disadvantageous to the users (Sahu & Murmu, 2012).
❖

The problem (What is your research problem?)
The existing problem is that the electricity company lacks digital means of tracking and

managing the use of electricity among its users. Electricity companies depend on analog systems
where meter readers have to visit users in their homes to get the electricity readings. The old
system is unreliable since meter readers can read units wrongly or forget to get readings from
certain users, which in inefficient for the electricity company (Edemirukaye, Amaize & Uzairue,
2018). The idea of having many meter readers is also expensive for the electricity company due
to transportation costs. As such, the new systems is cost efficient and will help the electricity
company to save on costs.
The problem also exists among users since they lack means of tracking and evaluating
their use of electricity so that they can prepare to pay. They were dependent on the end of month
meter readers, who could sometimes give false readings due to human error or other challenges
(Khan, Zoha & Ali, n.d.). The new solution will help users to prepay their electricity usage, track
their current monthly usage, pay through mobile systems, and forward complaints regarding their
electricity usage.
❖

Why it is a problem?
The lack of a digital system for managing and tracking the use of electricity is a problem

because it leads to high management costs ...