The main difference between Pre payment also called PAYG (Pay-As-You-Go) for heating and credit billing is how you pay for your energy usage. With PAYG, you prepay for your heating by purchasing credits or tokens, which are then loaded onto a meter or device in your home. The meter tracks your usage, deducting the cost of the energy you use from your credit balance.

With credit billing, you receive a bill at the end of a set period (usually monthly or quarterly) that is based on your estimated energy usage, which you then pay off in full or in instalments.

One advantage of PAYG is that it can be more convenient for people who want to budget and manage their energy costs more closely, as they can pay for their energy in smaller, more manageable amounts. It can also be useful for those who prefer to avoid large bills or who may have difficulty paying a large bill at once. However, it's worth noting that PAYG can sometimes be more expensive than credit billing, as suppliers may charge higher prices for this type of billing.

In contrast, credit billing can be more suitable for people who want a predictable monthly or quarterly bill and are comfortable paying for their energy usage in larger amounts. It may also be a better option for those who are able to manage their finances effectively and prefer to pay their bills in full to avoid interest charges.

The Zero Friction platform has master data to allows for distinguishing between PAYG and Credit billing.

In addition, consumption and remaining budget data is maintained in the platform in a similar way than consumption data is managed for credit billing.

We identify a number of core process to support PAYG. These include