The Ethiopian Electric Utility (EEU) has procured 100 portable point of sale (PoS) machines to allow smart card users to recharge their pre-paid electric power balance. Fifteen of the machines have been distributed to service centres, while the remaining 85 will be delivered and distributed in two months' time. The machines use a telecom network that allows for constant operation, making them immune to system interruptions ocurring at service centres. Though partly digitised, electric utility payments are still arduous and time-taking for consumers. It is not uncommon to see long queues winding around the EEU's service centres. "The main target is to avoid long queues and allow people to have easy access to payment," said Tesfaye Hirpa, director of ICT at the EEU. The EEU has 50,000 high-power users, around three million low-power or domestic users, and half a million prepaid card users.
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