Prepaid billing is a self-managed program.  You purchase electricity before you use it.  Think of it like putting gas in your car.  Payments can be made when and how you want - online, over the phone, or in-person at your local Berkeley Electric Cooperative office.  When your account runs low, you will get an alert by email or text message - whichever you choose.  Because you pay in advance, there's no need for a security deposit on prepaid billing.

Prepaid billing allows you to control your budget well beyond what you can with monthly billing.  Because you pay in advance on prepaid billing, you control how much you use and spend BEFORE you get billed for it.  Keeping an eye on your account in SmartHub helps you recognize how you use electricity and when you need to cut back to stay on budget.

If your funds get depleted, you get a notification prior to service being disconnected.  This gives you a chance to make a payment without ever losing service.  And if you do get disconnected, there aren't any late fees or reconnection fees and the service automatically reconnects once you have a credit balance.