Private Prepaid Electrical Meters good or bad

[duncan drennan]

TJ, I think that is a really cool system. When we were considering renting out out granny flat, I found out about putting in a prepaid meter there, but shucks, it would have be really expensive (new cables, municipality, bla-de-bla). Your solution would be perfect.

I think it is a really useful service to offer to landlords who don't want to go through the schlep of installing a whole new cable for a granny flat. I'm not sure how difficult it is to have a prepaid meter installed into a house and connected to the municipality's system, so there may even be scope for landlord's renting out whole houses?

Do you have a website?

[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.

[TJFASA]

A Single Phase Prepaid meters costs R 6.99 Each

[Dave A]

^-^ Wow!! Outright purchase? That's incredibly cheap.

[DPA]

How much is the installation??

[duncan drennan]

TJ, maybe it is worth giving Dave and DPA your contact details (through a private message, or email) so that they can contact you. They seem to want your solution, but this slow backwards and forwards seems like it is dragging things out.

Or, post a website address, or contact number here (don't post an email address, you'll probably get spammed).

Obviously posting all the details would also help, like,

• cost of meter (R6.99 seems a little odd...)
• installation costs
• any other upfront costs
• any monthly costs
• how purchasing tokens works (phone?, internet?)
• anything else that you can think of that potential clients may want to know (I'm sure you've been asked all these things many times before).

Your solution sounds good, getting all the info out will help you to close sales.

[TJFASA]

The meter costs R 699.00 each not R6.99

Electricians charge their own rates for each installation. On average about R 250.00