SleepAfrica.com - Electricity


	Prepaid Metering for Body Corporates 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 people’s utilization habits, this method is rarely accurate and is fraught with problems and subject to frequent dispute and complaints from owners within the scheme. In 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. The amount of utility consumed in such situations is generally significant and therefore carries with significant liabilities. Without the aid of a prepaid metering solution, the financial situation of the body corporate may fluctuate significantly, resulting in contraction of the body corporate cash flow. Since utility bills must be settled in order to avoid discontinuation of supply, body corporate must often divert funds for service or maintenance in order to balance shortfalls. Prolonged, this can lead to further problems such as general degradation of the complex or building with subsequent negative impact on health and safety and general up-keep or improvement. Our prepaid metering solution is the ideal solution for utilities revenues collection management in body corporate environments. Installed as sub-meter devices at the mains distribution board located within each dwelling area or section, our prepaid meters can be used to meter and govern the utility supply regardless of whether sub-meters are already installed or not. Once installed our prepaid metering system ensures that all owners or their tenants are required to prepay for utility before being supplied. The result is an immediate improvement in the cashflow of the body corporate. Furthermore, installation of our prepaid metering solution obviates the need for independent meter reading services and the cost associated with the service. In addition to these benefits, the problem of paying for utility consumption on common property areas of the scheme is also resolved. Sleep Africa pays the total monthly electricity bill and then invoices the shortfall between the recovery and the actual bill to the Body Corporate. The shortfall is made up of common property consumption and administration and account charges.

Prepaid Metering for Body Corporates