Prepaid Metering

Prepaid systems are widely used in a variety of industries. The industry with the most success has been that of the mobile service providers. However, prepaid metering systems are also used in other industries and are now also being used in residential and commercial property markets.

The prepaid utility market in South Africa is divided into to categories:

• Primary Market - that where Eskom or a Municpality own and operate the primary meter for a property.
• Secondary Market - also called the sub-meter market, where the owner of a property installs a privately owned sub-meter to the primary meter owned by the utility.

Sub-metering is a great way for landlords to manage and control credit on use of utilities such as electricity and water. There are a variety of sub-meter types available in the market. While all are reputable, they vary in ease of use or convenience.

Metering needs two functions in order to work:

• Vending system
• Metering system

With most prepaid meters these functions are seperated, making the administration and management of revenue collection problematic, requiring points of sale or top up points where tenants can purchase credit.

There is however one system in South Africa where every meter is comprised of both vending and metering function in a single device. These meters are operated from a central server that is connected to the GMS network and enable tenant and landlords to manage credit allocation via SMS. This is obviously more convenient than tenants having to remember to visit the local point of sale as everything is electronic.

The solution is amazingly simple and cost-effective. When a tenant moves into a property he or she pays the first amount for electricity. The landlord credits this amount to the prepaid meter account in the server system and then the tenant can send an SMS to the system in order to obtain a credit token. The tenant then enters the credit token to the meter and the meter starts to dispense electricity to the value of the token.