Review on Prepaid Energy Meter Using Raspberry Pico

Abstract: The project “Prepaid Energy Meter Using Raspberry Pi Pico” aims to develop an efficient and user- friendly system for monitoring and controlling household or industrial electricity consumption on a prepaid basis. In the proposed system, consumers purchase electrical energy in advance, and the balance reduces automatically as the energy is consumed. When the balance becomes low, the system alerts the user, and once it reaches zero, the power supply is automatically disconnected until the meter is recharged. The Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller acts as the central processing unit of the system. It continuously reads energy consumption through a current sensor and calculates the corresponding cost. The balance, energy consumed, and status messages are displayed on an LCD screen, while a relay module controls the power supply to the load. A keypad or RFID module allows the user to recharge the meter easily. This prepaid model ensures transparency, eliminates manual meter reading, and encourages efficient energy usage. The proposed system provides an economical and scalable solution for modernizing traditional postpaid energy billing systems. It can be further enhanced with IoT integration for remote monitoring and mobile-based recharge options, making it suitable for smart grid and smart city applications.