‘We Live on Estimates': Everyday Practices of Prepaid Electricity and the Urban Condition in Maputo, Mozambique

Abstract

This article examines the transition to prepaid electricity happening in Maputo, Mozambique, in order to reflect on the contemporary geographies of urban energy infra structure and urbanization in subSaharan Africa and other cities of the South. The article draws on fieldwork and archival research conducted in 2013 and 2014, arguing that prepay ment constitutes a productive juncture in the urban experience of electricity infrastructure in Maputo's postcolonial moment, not merely a neutral technology or a disciplining tech nique of government (as argued by some scholarship). The article examines the multiple rationalities implicated in the use of the electricity infrastructure via prepayment and the organization of urban life it engenders (and of which it is also a product) by focusing on the everyday practices surrounding prepaid electricity of urban dwellers in neighbour hoods where the 'modern infrastructural ideal' may never be fully realized. As a result, it contributes to an understanding of the experience of urban energy in cities where 'slum urbanism', uncertainty and provisionality are dominant aspects of the urban condition.

The prepaid electric meter: Rights, relationships and reification in Unguja, Tanzania

“…In line with previous research, we find that the prepaid meter disciplines users to use no more than what they can afford (van Heusden, 2012;Jaglin & Dubresson, 2016), 3 and has the support of the utility in large part because it reduces its nonpayment problem (PlancqTournadre, 2004). We find that many customers prefer the prepaid meter; it controls them (as they see it) through its automatic disconnection mechanism, but this control helps them to control their finances (Ghanadan, 2012, p 417;Baptista, 2015). The change from postpaid to prepaid therefore relieves vulnerable consumers of debt, but that relief comes with the fear of being left in the dark.…”

“…Once 100 kWh are used up it disconnects the supply, automatically cutting off users who have not ''topped up" (i.e., prepurchased additional kWh). Baptista (2015) nicely summarizes the range of critiques of prepaid systems, which have been called a proxy for neoliberalism, a disciplining technique over citizens, and a political tool. Linking broad neoliberal policies with prepaid metering, Ruiters (2007) sees these meters as a form of responsibilization, or, the supplanting of traditionally government responsibilities by new demands made on the individual (also van Heusden, 2012;von Schnitzler, 2013).…”

“…After surveying prepaid customers in SSA, four studies conclude that the meter provides users with budgeting support, reductions in consumption through (self)-rationing, and increased awareness of consumption (Tewari & Shah, 2003;Miyogo et al, 2013;Malama et al, 2014;Mburu & Sathyamoorthi, 2014). Baptista (2015) finds prepaid users in Maputo to be largely satisfied with their control over budgeting and consumption; given the tenuous economics of the urban margin, she credits the prepaid meter with enabling residents to pursue at least some modern comforts. Differentiated services, and differentiated modes of paying for services, contrary to traditional arguments against ''splintering" the urban population, may actually narrow rather than accentuate access gaps by providing new opportunities for access (Jaglin, 2008;cf Graham & Marvin, 2001).…”

Conditions of life in the city: medicine and gendered relations in Maputo, Mozambique

“…22The cidade de cimento or cidade is the ‘consolidated core of Maputo, built to European standards’ during the period of Portuguese colonial rule and today encompassing an estimated 8 per cent of the total municipal area (Baptista : 1004). In keeping with other scholarship on Maputo, I use ‘Maputo’ and ‘the city of Maputo’ to refer to both the city centre and the surrounding neighbourhoods ( bairros or subúrbios ) (e.g.…”

“…In keeping with other scholarship on Maputo, I use ‘Maputo’ and ‘the city of Maputo’ to refer to both the city centre and the surrounding neighbourhoods ( bairros or subúrbios ) (e.g. Baptista ; Bénard da Costa & Biza ; Jenkins ).…”