Method of crediting a multiple utility meter

摘要

A method of crediting a multiple utility meter using a smartcard is characterised by crediting the card at a single point of sale via a single transaction. The card may then be used to credit at least two different utility meters, eg. gas or electricity. The smartcard is programmed to apportion a single credit, eg Ü10, to each utility and the credit sum is split according to optional predefined rules. The optional rules may be apportioning credit to a predefined ratio, based on a number of card insertions, or based on dynamic customer usage. Point of sale terminals, dealing solely with gas format data, can be used to credit electricity data to the card since the card is programmed to convert between the two data formats. The smartcard has a portion for storing customer specific information and can also be used to pass meter status data from the meter, via the point of sale terminal, to the supplier.