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Outsourced Management of Prepaid Meter

Outsourced Management of Prepaid Meters is a possibility for landlords who do not want to be hands on in the revenue collection management process. This is typically the case with property investors, developers, real estate agents, body corporates and organizations providing staff accommodation.

With outsourced prepaid meter management tenants pay funds for utilities to Prepaid Meters who then allocates funds to the relevant meter on behalf of the landlord. At month end, Prepaid Meters then transfers funds collected from various tenants to the landlord less a revenue collection management fee which is a minimum service fee or a percentage of the revenues collected, whichever is the greater.

Our minimum service fee is R15.00 per meter per month or 10% whichever the greater. This covers access to our website meter and revenue collection management, SMS return vending and support.

In the outsourced method the landlord has access to the Prepaid Meter Utility Management System for reporting purposes only. The landlord does not have the ability to "Add New Credit" to a meter, this task is done by Prepaid Meters. Using the Internet, the landlord has any time anywhere access and can generate any number of reports (24/7/365).

The process of re-charging outsource managed meter is a simple two-step-process:

1. User Credits Meter

2. User Generates Token (for the required utility)

The detailed process of outsource management is illustrated below:

Tenant/Meter User Task

Tenant/Meter User credits the meter using Internet Banking, ATM, Cell phone banking, Credit Card and shortly we are also integrating to SPAR, BP Express, Shell Select, Sasol Delight and Shoprite Checkers.

Prepaid Meters Task

The credit gets allocated automatically to the meter.

Tenant/Meter User Task

The tenant/meter user then generates a prepaid utility token by sending an SMS to our prepaid meter vending system. The meter user decides the amount they wish to retrieve from the credit and to which utility to allocate (e.g. electricity or water).

Prepaid Meters Task

At month end Prepaid Meters reconciles all Prepaid Meter accounts under its' management and makes payments, less management fees, to all landlords. Statements for each prepaid meter under management are despatched to the landlord by email. Landlords can also log in to the Prepaid Utilities Management System at www.prepaidmeters.net to view real-time transactions and manage their meter/s.

Landlord, Body Corporate or Managing Agent Tasks

When the landlord receives utility bills in the month following, Prepaid Meters deposit will already be reflected in the landlords nominated bank account. The landlord can then use these funds to make timely payments on all utility bills.

Self Management of Prepaid Meters

Self Management of Prepaid Meters enables landlords to access their meters on www.prepaidmeters.net where they can perform the following management tasks on their meters:

Add credit to a meter
Generate reports on a meter

As apposed to Outscourced Management of Prepaid Meters , Self Management is for the landlord or property manager who does not mind being hands-on and available to service tenant requests.

Self Management carries a monthly service fee per meter, per month but allows the landlord unlimited access to perform these tasks via the Internet from anywhere at any time (24/7/365). The monthly service fee is charged by direct debit in advance. Landlords can choose to make their debit orders quarterly, bi-annual or annual.

Our monthly service fee is R15.00 per meter per month. This fee covers access to our website meter service, SMS return vending and support.

The self-managed process is a simple two-step-process:

1. Tenant pays the landlord which credits/load the meter control account

2. User Generates Token (for the required utility)

In this option, landlords load credit and tenants generate tokens by sending token requests by SMS at anytime or place (24/7/365).

If a meter is Self Managed, then tenants pay funds for utilities direct to the landlords nominated bank account. In the process there are therefore tasks which must be performed by the tenant and by the landlord.

The detailed description of the process is illustrated below:

Tenant Tasks

Using Internet Banking, tenant performs an Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) to pay funds to the landlords stipulated account. Tenant can also pay by any other specified means by the landlord. Use of Internet Banking is recomended as it is the most cost-effective, safest and tracable method for both the landlord and the tenant to transfer funds. For the landlord it also means that no cash in handled, there are no cash handling fees and the landlord is not required to generate a receipt for the amount.
Usually the tenant uses the Internet Banking Facility to email a conformation of payment to the landlords email address. Most Internet Banking facilities provide the ability to send a payment confirmation to the person receiving payment. The payment confirmation is usually send in Adobe PDF format. This method is recomended because EFT payments can take up to 4-working days to reflect. Confirmation of the payment, direct from the banking system, ensures that the landlord can add credit to the prepaid meter more immediately as apposed to waiting for the deposit to reflect.

Landlord Tasks

The landlord should monitor email daily to check for payment confirmations that may arrive from tenants. When a confirmed payment is received it needs to be credited to the relevant prepaid meter account.
The landlord can "Add New Credit" by connecting to the Internet and, using a Web Browser, log into the Prepaid Utility Management System located at www.prepaidmeters.net where the relevant Prepaid Meter can be recalled and New Credit added.
The landlord can also perform this functionality via cell phone using SMS or WAP.
Once new credit is added to a meter it becomes immediately available for use by the tenant. The landlord can then notify the tenant that the New Credit is available and tokens can be generated using SMS.

Tenant Tasks

The tenant generates a prepaid utility token by sending an SMS to our prepaid meter vending system. The token can be for whole or part of the credit value available. For example: If the tenant paid R500 to the landlord, the tenant has R500 credit. The tenant can send a token request for the full R500 or part thereof, say R450. It is always recomended that the tenant leaves a small amount in reserve, just incase of emergencies.

Landlord Tasks

When the landlord recieves their municipal or body corporate utility bill, the money for the utilities has already been paid by the tenant and so there is no need to request funds from the tenant. Payment can therefore be made promptly.
When the landlord sending tenants their statement the amount the tenant has paid for utility can be easily discovered by generating a report on the prepaid utility management system for the meter in question. This means that landlords can supply statements to tenants with greater accuracy, less confusing of arrears and more quickly.

Prepaid Metering Vending Management

All meter models in our range are comprised of both the metering and vending components required in order to provide a complete solution.

The vending solution is managed via means of a prepaid utility management system. The system requires that all meters in the field are registered with the utility management system. During registration a meter is defined with a set of properties, including details of the owner, the current tenant and financial parameters for revenue management.

To get full description of the PrePaid Meters Vending and Management system, please contact us and we will send you the meters vending functionality document.

Credit tokens can be obtained using SMS, WEB or WAP, depending on the management method chosen by the landlord, New Credit can be added to a prepaid meter either by the landlord or Prepaid Meters. There are two main management methods as follows: