Automated billing system for public utilities

Abstract

Currently, the billing systems for public utilities (Electricity, Water/gas, and Telephone) are stand alone, inaccurate, costly, and slow. Several attempts were made to automate the billing system. However, none of these systems was cost-effective for wide range implementation. In this thesis, an intergrated system for the three utilities and a credit card reader are proposed. The proposed system has two structures. The first structure is hardware which consists of a digital energy meter, a digital water/gas meter, a telephone call meter, a credit card reader, and a microcontroller. The proposed techniques for electrical energy metering are simulated for different sampling rate, sampling precision, and sampling delay under harmonics and no harmonicas cases. Each meter circuit is designed, built and tested. The second structure is software which includes the development of system trouble shooting program and system operation program. The intergrated system is tested and has proven to be stable, reliable and easy to maintain within its accuracy.