INFORMATION SHEET

Pre-Paid Meters System Rental
Prepaid Metering for Body Corporates
Benefits - Prepaid Electricity Meters Minimize Risk

Pre-Paid Meters System Rental - (top)

Cost of meters	R0.00 (Remains property of Sleep Africa Accommodation Services)
Meter deposit	R500.00 ( Per meter payable by tenant upon registration and activation of unit) Deposit based on Sabre & Gem Pre-paid units and includes installation. Deposit may change due to factors beyond our control and installation conditions.
Token purchases	Please refer to vending options.
Account management	Sleep Africa will reimburse the recovered monies to the body corporate on a monthly basis. Administration charges and common property usage remains the responsiblity of the body corporate.
Electricity pricing per KWH	Sleep Africa undertakes never to charge a rate which is more than the pre-paid rate charged by local municipalties. Our rates will always be the same as pre-paid rates published and approved by NERSA. Sleep Africa retains the difference between bulk and pre-paid rates as an administration charge.
Meters	Meters are manufactured by a renowned international manufacturer who is also a recognized supplier of Eskom. Calibration of meters are as prescribed by specifictaions set in place by Eskom.
Office hours	Purchases can be made during normal office hours which are as follows Monday to Thursday: 08:30 to 16:00 Friday: 08:30 to 14:00 An after hours service is currently being put in place to assist with purchases 7 days a week.

Prepaid Metering for Body Corporates - (top)

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.

Benefits - Prepaid Electricity Meters Minimize Risk - (top)

Collecting revenues for electricity used by tenants can lead to complications for landlords, body corporates and managing agents alike. In some cases, tenants regularly neglect to pay their electricity bill or refuse to do so when they feel that their consumption is not as high as the amount they are being billed for. Whether the dispute arises because of neglect, or a feeling of injustice, collection of arrears in such cases is a problem. Legally, the electricity supply may not be disconnected, so tenants continue to enjoy the benefits of electricity and easily build up arrears. Landlords have no choice but to pay on behalf of the tenant or face disconnection and reconnection fees. In some cases matters may remain unresolved for an extended period of time. While the landlord tries to collect the arrears from a tenant, the utility company tries to collect arrears from the landlord and so a domino-effect of legal proceedings ensue. For landlords, body corporates and managing agents, the solution to avoiding this problem is to install a secondary, Prepaid Electricity Meter from Sleep Africa. The secondary Prepaid Electricity Meter is privately owned and provides a cost-effective solution with equitable benefits to both tenants and landlords.

Landlords and Property Managers are protected from:

tenants running up high electricity bills.
tenants disputing their bills after consumption.
legal complications between owner and tenant.

Tenants are protected from:

landlords over charging for electricity.
not knowing that their level of electricity consumption is high.
not being able to monitor their consumption.

Landlords and Property Managers are able to:

ensure that tenants pay for electricity before consuming it.
protect themselves from large, unpaid bills at the end of a lease.
easily resolve disputes on the amount of electricity consumed.
use the sale of recharge vouchers as a bargaining tool in lieu of unpaid rent

Tenants are able to:

monitor their consumption by checking the meter monitor and adjust usage accordingly.
budget so there are no surprise bills at the end of the month.
know for certain that they are paying for the correct amount of electricity being used.

When considering the costs of aggravation, disconnection and reconnection fees, legal costs and loss to business as a result of high tenant turnover, the inherent protection and abilities associated with use of privately owned, secondary Prepaid Electricity Meters far outweighs the costs of purchase and installation.