Patent ID: 8407115

Claim:
A system to control a utility usage delivery of a utility usage associated with a utility meter comprising: a control unit coupled to the utility meter to monitor a utility usage by customer premises and to control said utility usage by said customer premises; logic configured to generate customer utility usage data corresponding to the utility meter; and a display unit communicatively coupled to the control unit to display the customer utility usage data, said display unit further including a customer input device to receive input from a customer at said customer premises; said display unit configured for location limited to said customer premises; said control unit further comprising: a control processor, said control processor configured to receive meter readings from said utility meter relating to said utility usage delivered to said customer premises; a controller controlled by said control processor, said controller to turn said utility usage on or off to said customer premises; and a network interface between said control processor and a control server, said control server to be operated by a supplier of said utility usage; wherein said control processor is configured to receive a utility usage threshold level from said control server over said network interface, said utility usage threshold level being based on customer prepayment or credit available in an account with said supplier of said utility usage, said control processor is configured to compare said meter readings from said utility meter with said utility usage threshold level and said control processor is configured to control said controller to turn off said utility usage to said customer premises based at least in part upon said meter readings reaching said utility usage threshold level; wherein said control processor is configured to receive restored account information from said control server using said network interface when said account is restored to a positive account balance, and said control processor is configured to display said restored account information using said display unit, said control processor is configured to subsequently receive a confirmation to restore said utility usage from said customer via said customer input device at said customer premises, and said control processor is configured to control said controller to restore said utility usage to said customer premises in response to receiving said confirmation to restore said utility usage.