Quote Originally Posted by Derlyn View Post
@Blurock. Sounds like a wonderful system, however, at the end of the day, the biggest problem for landlords is getting the money from tenants for services consumed.

That is where prepaid is the easiest solution. You don't pay in advance for services, you don't get them. Problem solved.
The problem is that what is not measured cannot be managed. Falsely, landlords think that they are absolved of managing utilities when they push everything onto prepaid. The truth is that those prepaid meters gives no feedback to the landlord and when they are bypassed or slowed down, the bill still comes to the landlord.

We have had at least 3 estates/complexes where their water bill was in excess of R1 million. This was because of undetected underground leaks over an extended period.
When the landlord/body corporate gets water via a bulk meter, they have to balance it with what they recover from tenants. This is never done with a prepaid system and the landlord is left with the balance.

The AUS-ioT system collects data every hour, so that you are always up to date with whatever is happening with your utilities in your complex.
By reading all the meters at the same time every month, one can apply statistical analysis and compare one month/period to another to identify exceptions. It is also good for budgeting and funny enough, tenants start to save on consumption once they can read their meters on line.

There are rules in place to collect levies and utilities are part of the monthly billing cycle. At least when you know how much is owning, you can do something about it. How many landlords have been left with an accumulated metro bill after eventually evicting a tenant?