Private Prepaid Electrical Meters good or bad

[TJFASA]

Hi installed a Private Prepaid Electrical Meter into my Granny Flat. Now my tenants have to pay in advance before consuming electricity. Once I receive payment from my tenant i send them via SMS or Email a unique recharge token number. All they have to do is punch the number into their meter and they have electricity. I think it's an excellent way of preventing tenants from abusing electricity and not paying final bills when they vacate premises.

[Dave A]

Now that sounds like a really fine idea!

[duncan drennan]

Our house has a prepaid meter and it is really great � no worrying about the municipality billing the incorrect amount, etc. Definitely what I would want if I was renting out (especially for a granny flat on my property!)

I'm not sure about the contents of your lease, but you could probably make it even simpler (for yourself) by just letting them buy their own electricity. I normally use EasyPay to buy electricity, but it can also be purchased from shop tills and so on (can't remember all the places off the top of my head).

[Dave A]

I'm not sure about the contents of your lease, but you could probably make it even simpler (for yourself) by just letting them buy their own electricity.

That works if the electrical supply authority will provide a seperate supply. But there are times when they don't. Also, some metros are holding the owner responsible for unpaid electrical bills run up by tenants.

[TJFASA]

The best thing to do is to install a private prepaid meter after the municple meter. Transfer the municple account from the tenant to the landlord. Then the tenant has to pay the landlord for all electricity consumed. The landlord inturn pays the munciplality and there is never any outstanding electrical bills.

[duncan drennan]

The best thing to do is to install a private prepaid meter after the municple meter. Transfer the municple account from the tenant to the landlord. Then the tenant has to pay the landlord for all electricity consumed. The landlord inturn pays the munciplality and there is never any outstanding electrical bills.

Okay, I misunderstood. So you actually have a normal municipal account and the prepaid meter piggy backs onto that? How does that work exactly?

[entoserv]

This is very nice but I see a problem here. What stops people from bypassing the meter.

[TJFASA]

You cant bypass the meter without physically cutting into the live wires and going around the meter. The problem is the landlord will detect a drop in consumption and may come and investigate.

The meters themselves are sealed and once opened cannot be resealed without showing evidence of tampering.

Some meters also have tamper latches built into them. If the meter is opened it senses this and shuts down electricity. The landlord then has to recode the meter in order for it to operate again.

[DPA]

Manage an office block which has several rented units. There is only a bulk meter coming into the building. I devide the electricity according to office space. Some Tenants use minimal electricity whilst others use plenty. Would this prepaid metering system work in an office block?

[Dave A]

If you don't have a problem collecting the money we've installed meters in complexes and buildings in a similar situation. From there you'd need to read the meters and bill accordingly.

To my mind, the advantage of the prepaid meter is you don't have to go through meter readings and collecting on bills, but it also removes the opportunity to look for tampering.

There's nothing stopping you from setting up your own meter room other than the capital outlay. If it involves splitting circuits the costs could mount up. I know there's a handy meter available that goes into the db much like a circuit breaker. So if each unit is on its own db, that would be a viable option too.

I'll check with my sparkies when I see them next, get a bit more detail about the metering equipment options and post some feedback here. From there, all you'd need to do is contact a local reliable electrician to work out how much work (and cost) it would involve.

TJFASA, maybe you'd like to give an idea on your equipment costs in the meantime - I'll be passing it on to my teams to present to clients as a possible option too.