Ensuring that tenants pay for the electricity they use is often a cause for concern and trouble some task for property investors. It's not uncommon to find landlords that are lumbered with having to pay utility bills for tenants.

Property Investor Network, in conjuction with the leading developer of prepaid utlities management solutions are proud to bring to you a cost-effective and efficient solution to the problems of prepaid electricity in rental units.

While it is possible for landlords to demand that tenants open the relevant utilities accounts, in order that risk and responsibility will move to the tenant, in many cases tenants are loathed to do and will seek alternative accomodation above having to open municiple accounts. This problem is especially prevalent in low-cost areas where the typical tenant is non-affluent.

In order to make properties more attractive in terms of renting, many property investors keep the municiple accounts on properties in there own name and then collect back amounts charged. Since utility bills often arrive a month or two after invoicing for rent is done, collection and reconciliation of utilities bills can cause headaches.

Since utility bills invariably arrive later than the month in which they were used. Landords that have utilities in their own name can run the risk of having to pay the utilities on behalf of the tenant. Two instances where this is the case are common:

• The tenant absconds leaving behind one or more months arrears.

• The tenat departs at the end of a rental contract and promises to pay the last months arrears, but when the landlord tries to collect in the next month, the tenant cannot be found or refuses to pay.

To reduce the risks, many property investors restort to taking a deposit over the property rental and a deposit over the utilities. This increases the amount of money a prospective tenant is required to put down in order to secure the lease and take occupation. In non-affluent arrears, this can be a very real barrier to securing tenants.

Pre-paid electricity meters are already common place in areas of the Cape and are starting to become an option for many property investors in other provinces.

Pre-paid Electricity Meters is the Only Cost Effective Solution

While prepayment has obvious benefits, they are not all without drawback and property investors are often hard pressed to find suitable solutions that are cost-effective and easy to manage.

PrePaid Meters website with the manufacturers offer comprehensive revenue management of repayment sites, in a highly cost effective manner. The system is ideal for property investors and letting agents who want to effectively control the electricity consumption and revenue collection on their rented units without the hassle of maintaining the operational and technological requirements of a prepayment system.

It’s all done for you. From the maintenance and upgrades, to backups and security, their solution covers it all.

How These PrePaid Meters Work

The Pre Paid vending solution works in conjunction with the utility management system, Ultima. This system, in conjunction with management software, manages both the financial and meter related information, thereby addressing both the commercial and technical needs of the property investor.

The system integrates seamlessly, is fully SMS enabled and allows the landlord to preset monthly purchasing limits for individual units. It also caters for non payment by blocking further requests. The landlord is always in touch via SMS enabled reports. The system is fully scalable and can be rapidly deployed and is capable of handling millions of customers and their associated transactions.

Since the meter operates via SMS, there is the added bonus of not having to issue prepaid cards that can easily get lost. Tenants benefit further by not having to visit an ATM or other sales counter just to enable their electricity. They can simply provision the electricity they need from the comfort of their arm chair by sending an SMS.

In addition, the entire system is maintained and managed 24-hours a day, seven days a week so that landlords can benefit from complete peace of mind when it comes to utilities bills.

Installation of a meter is quick and simple. Any qualified electrician can do the job of installing. Once a meter is installed the landlord can simply activate the meter by calling a host centre and registering the meter on the system. From there on, the tenant does most of the work.

If you need an electrician, PrePaid Meters will refer one to you when you purchase a meter, to assist you with installation and registration of the meter.

PrePaid Meter management

Managing your pre-paid meters has never been easier. You can add, delete or swap out meters, simply by notifying the host centre of the changes you need via via phone, fax, or email.

Landlords can choose whether to outsource the bill collection process to the host center or to manage it themselves. When managed by the host center, a 10% service fee is charged. this amount can be incorporated into the tenants consumption rate. Overall this means that landlords can have tenants pay the amounts to the host center or to their own bank account. In the first case, the host center takes care to ensure that revenues for utilities consumed is paid and will manage the risk of non-payment on behalf of the landlord. In the second case, risk management and collection is the responsibility of the landlord.

Reports

Property investors and letting angets can access reporting information on any of their prepiad meters, simply by sending an SMS with the meter number followed by *m* total. One can receive a variety of reports at your fingertips, day or night. Furthermore, you have the option of receiving detailed reports automatically through email on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Giving you the option to choose how and when you receive the information you need.

Ordering your meters

Visit www.PrePaidMeters.co.za from there you will be able to view product information and purchase safely online. The prepaid meter will be delivered door-to-door to you in 3 to 5 working days.

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