FAQ

Prepaid Sub Meters for tenants: How It Works. These prepaid sub meters for tenants are a means for the landlord, property manager or body corporate to collect money from their tenants before they use electricity or water. ... This means that the supply authority (Eskom/Municipality) meters remain in place.

People have varying ideas about what electric submetering actually is. While the ideas they have vary, most of them hinge on the actual truth about how electric submeters work.

Electric submeters are basically energy monitors that are attached downstream from electric meters. Each one breaks down the electric usage of individual tenants or dwelling units. It is monitored then broken down for a landlord or property owner to distribute a more accurate utility bill during the billing period.

• "Installing a submetering system allows a property manager... to bill units individually for their share of the utilities. Submetering can be installed for all kinds of utilities, including water, gas, and electricity."

Benefits for Landlords or Homeowners

• Prevent any disputes with tenants regarding the usage of electricity and/or water.
• Ensure that your tenants have paid for the water and electricity that they consume before they even use it.
• Ensure that there are no nasty surprises at the end of the lease period with unpaid accounts.
• Remove the issues of bills, which reduces the amount of admin (and effort) associated with all of your tenants.
• Prevent tenants from wasting water and electricity, as they are directly affected by every unit used.
• Alert you to possible water leaks. When tenants can identify units dropping while no water is being used, this indicates a leak.

Benefits for Tenants

• Help you to monitor how much water and electricity you're using daily, weekly and monthly.
• Be better prepared for the month ahead, budgeting for your expected consumption. This means no nasty surprises. You are in control and can adjust how much you use so that you have even better control over your budget and spend.  
• Give you peace of mind that you're not paying too much for exaggerated bills.
• Allow you to load credit remotely. So, if you're away but your family at home needs power or water, you can buy the units and let them load them.

Properties that can have sub meters include: apartment communities, mobile home communities, condominiums, residential buildings (such as student housing), as well as commercial offices and warehouses.

If you are the owner or landlord for an older property, it is best to make sure your electrical systems are up to code. Also you should check for any local utility meter or utility submeter regulations or utility company rules in your area.

The prepaid electricity system is similar to using a prepaid mobile phone: you purchase airtime from a vendor

and you receive a unique code (normally consisting of specially generated digits). When this code is entered

into the mobile phone, you basically load an amount of talk-time on a specific mobile network.

Purchasing prepaid electricity works in much the same way, as you purchase a unique code which is entered

into the electricity meter, using a special dial to load a certain amount of electricity units. These electricity

units loaded on the electricity meter is what you make use of, and replenish by purchasing another unique code

when needed. In essence, the prepaid system allows you to pay for electricity usage before actually making use

of the electricity.

Why choose prepaid electricity?

Ultimately the prepaid electricity system saves costs to property investors, body corporates, landlords and the

like. In turn, the prepaid electricity system is actually beneficial for the consumers themselves as well. Prepaid

customers pose no credit risk. Deposits are not required, which also eliminates the need to generate interest on

deposits. There is never an overdue balance. Invoices and collections are therefore unnecessary.

On the other hand, traditionally billed electricity systems have to invoice customers at the end of a billing

period. Unpaid invoices become a burden to property investors, body corporates and landlords as they have to

collect the overdue amount themselves. If the collection effort is unsuccessful, the customer’s electricity is

eventually disconnected and the unpaid revenue is written off as bad debt.

Sub-metering is the general metering of a complex or property where there is one main municipal meter, also

known as a bulk meter, and thereafter other meters called “sub-meters”

Sub-meters are installed after the primary municipal meter, whether it is a bulk meter or not.

What is a prepaid electricity sub-meter?

In cases where there is more than one building on a piece of land, or in the instance of sectional title complexes

where there is only one municipal account, electricity sub-meters are used. t is common practice for the developer of the complex to bring services to the ERF in bulk which enables the

future body corporate to have a single municipal account. This is called a bulk meter.

Electricity sub-meters are installed secondary to the bulk meter, and is usually the responsibility of the

developer. This is especially common in sectional title schemes. More often than not these are post paid. An

alternative to the post paid method is the prepaid electricity system. The difference between these two systems

is basically that the post paid meter requires a meter reading company to read the meters monthly, whereas the

prepaid system requires no services to read meters as the electricity units are purchased on a prepaid basis and

utilized thereafter.

There are various different prepaid meters which include the AMI/AMR electricity sub-meters, with the most common prepaid electricity sub-meters being STS sub-meters. STS sub-meters work with tokens. AMI/AMR

electricity sub-meters are more expensive where the cost of devices and the installation is concerned.

New property development projects present an excellent opportunity for installation of sub-prepaid meters and

Revenue Management. Specification of sub-prepaid meters and revenue management solutions in new

developments is highly desirable for developers as this level of planning and consideration has significant benefit to the future operation of the development. This benefit translates into a more marketable and desirable

product for would be home buyers and property investors.

Once operational commercial and residential property developments faced the same financial management

challenges when it comes to revenues collection management. Whether the need is for Prepaid Meters and

Metering for Commercial or Prepaid Meters for Residential schemes, specification of prepaid meters and

prepaid metering systems enables developers to reduce their costs in provision for the supply of utilities to the

development. By application for bulk-metering services developers can significantly reduce costs associated

with individual section metering.

Furthermore, the installation of a prepaid meter in each section ensures an improved level of financial

management once the scheme is in operation. With this in mind, the value of properties within the scheme are

more attractive to private and investor buyers who realize that a significant portion of the risk associated with

the revenues collection management of the scheme has been obviated.

Specification of our prepaid meters and metering solutions also obviates the costs associated with meter

reading charges that are customary in such schemes. This results in reduced costs to the scheme and hence the

individual section owners. Once again, the combination of prudent financial management from the perspective

of revenues collection management for utilities combined with reduced costs makes the scheme more

attractive from the immediate perspective to any buyer, addes value to the product and improves marketability

of the scheme.

Our Prepaid Meters and Management Offering for Body Corporate:

1. Prepaid Meter Management - no hassles with meters management we do everything.
2. No more per quota billing - everyone pays for what they use.

Many residential and commercial properties are owned in sections or areas by multiple owners, each owner

owning one or more sections with the dwelling complex or building structure. In such arrangements there is

usually a body corporate that is comprised of a number of owners. The role of the body corporate is to provide

for governance of the scheme and taking care of various environmental and financial issues surrounding the

operation.

In such environments it is common for the property to be supplied utilities on bulk-basis. Typically a single

meter system is employed to calculate the overall consumption of all the sections and the common property

area of the complex or building structure. Following this there may or may not be additional sub meters.

In the case where no sub-meters are installed, apportionment of the utility bill is typically calculated using the

"participation quota". This method attempts to determine fair apportionment by means of calculating ratios,

either by number of persons or squared meter area. As expected, because of differences in peoples utilization habits, this method is rarely accurate and is fraught with problems and subject to frequent dispute and

complaints from owners within the scheme.

n the case where sub-meters have been installed the situation is better as the meter for each section can be

measured and therefore accurately billed. The sum of all the meter readings from the sections can then be

subtracted from the bulk meter reading to determine the amount of electricity consumed in the common

property areas. This can then, once again, be apportioned by means of the "participation quota" method to each

sections utility bill.

While the situation where sub-meters are used is an improvement on the case where there are none, both

situations are not perfect as payment for the utilities charged still needs to be collected once billed.

As is often the case is such scheme, there are people with varying financial means and circumstances. The

result is that revenue collection management for the scheme is a task that requires constant attention, sending

of reminders, calculation of late payment charges and debt collection. In the interim the body corporate or

appointed management agent is still required to settle the utility billed it received on the bulk-meter account.

In addition to these benefits, the problem of paying for utility consumption on common property areas of the

scheme is also resolved. This is because such schemes are typically metered by way of a bulk meter at which the

cost the supply is discounted by the supplier of the utility. In order to cover the cost of utilities consumed in

common property, each of the prepaid meters installed in the section of the scheme is set to charge for utility

at the regular or standard rate for that utility in the area. This is price is not discounted, as a result the

difference between the revenue collected from the sections is sufficient to cover the common property. The

overall amount collected from the sections, charged at standard rate, is typically greater than the amount billed

at the bulk-meter. In most cases this results in a slight profit for the body corporate which can be allocated

toward upkeep and maintenance of items such as light bulbs, switch replacements, etc.

Prepaid meters and prepaid managing solutions usually solve many problems for body corporate including cash

flow, which is always highly important for all body corporate.

Prepaid Sub Meters for tenants: How It Works. These prepaid sub meters for tenants are a means for the landlord, property manager or body corporate to collect money from their tenants before they use electricity or water. ... This means that the supply authority (Eskom/Municipality) meters remain in place.

When it comes to prepaid meter installation costs, there are only two initial upfront costs and that is the purchasing of the meters from a preferred Edm Solutions Prepaid wholesaler or electrical retailer and the meter installation costs by a certified electrician or plumber. It is important to note that we do not charge connection fees.

Please note that you cannot replace an Eskom/ Municipal meter with a Edm solutions Prepaid sub-meter. For you to be able to buy tokens through us you will need to install a sub-meter downstream from the main meter.

Our meters are available for purchase at reputable electrical wholesalers and retailers, and should be installed by a qualified contractor to connect it to the main Eskom/ Municipal meter. If you decide to install one of our meters, you can contact us to register/activate it on our meter management system.

If you have any questions regarding this issue or where to buy our meters kindly let us know via email or give our friendly call centre a call on  010 023 4332

Once the meter is installed, the next step is to register it on the Edm Solutions  Prepaid System. Only once it is registered and we have your banking details will the meter be ready to accept tokens and provide your tenants with access to electricity and/or water.

You will need to complete an activation form (contact our Call Centre for the form) and send it to us. Once it’s completed please email to registration@edmsolutions.co.za, Alternatively, you can call us on 010 023 5448 and our agents will do the registration on the phone with you and then email you a confirmation. You can also request a registration form via WhatsApp: 081 713 6022 that will be emailed to you.

A token is an STS (Standard Transfer Specification) compliant 20 digit number issued upon purchase that will release the specified amount of electricity (in kwh) or water (in kL) on your prepaid meter. A token can be purchased using your meter number. Once you pay we generate a token that gives you the units for the value paid. You can then punch the token number into the meter to get the electricity/water equivalent. The amount due will then be paid to the landlord.

Tokens purchased from Easypay or Cigicell stores will provide you with the 20 digit token number which can be keyed directly into your meter. UniPin vouchers (Cigicell) will require that you SMS your voucher number to the number provided, whereafter your token will be sent to you via SMS.

Tokens are unique to each meter; this means that no one can steal your token and use it on a different meter.

If you lose a token, you can whatsapp your meter number to 081 713 6022 for the most recent token to be sent back to your cell phone, or contact our call centre on 010 023 4332 or log into the online chat portal at any time to obtain the most recent token.