What “The Meter Guys” Prepaid can offer:

STS meter vending

The Meter Guys Prepaid manages the supply of recharge tokens for tenants through a number of different channels - Easypay, Cigicell, Unipin, Powertime, Instant EFT, FNB CPP as well as a full service e-commerce platform. This ensures that the consumer can buy prepaid tokens 24 hours a day through a number of convenient locations throughout the country. The major retailers selling tokens include: Shoprite, Pick n Pay, Spar, BP, Shell, Engen, Lewis Stores plus many more.

Supply of single and three phase meters

For customer convenience, The Meter Guys Prepaid keeps in-house stock of the most popular single phase and three phase prepaid meters – including wired and PLC meters. Meters that are not kept in-house, will be ordered from the supplier and may result in a delivery lead-time.

Installation of single phase and three phase meters

The Meter Guys Prepaid offers a service for the installation of single phase and three phase meters. Our expert sales team will provide you with a quote or if additional work is required, will do an on-site inspection to provide a more detailed quote.

Extensive reporting

A number of reports can be pulled from The Meter Guys state of the art vending system. These reports are accessed using a secure login on the "Ideal" Prepaid website. The reports that can be pulled include: low consumption, KWh per meter, KWh per building, sales per meter, sales per building, building summary, accounting reports and many more. These reports are available in HTML, CSV, PDF and Excel formats. The primary reports are also automatically emailed to you, on a monthly basis.

Benefits of “The Meter Guys” Prepaid Solutions

  • Tenants pay upfront for electricity usage which leads to improved cash flow.
  • No unexpected post payment issues experience by the tenant.
  • No more arguing with tenants, over electricity usage – tenants pay as they consume.
  • Reduced administration – no more bills for utilities that need to be distributed to tenants.
  • Reduced risk on your utility collections – money is collected upfront from tenants.
  • A number of convenient ways to buy “The Meter Guys” Prepaid electricity and water 24 hours a day, country-wide.
  • More than one meter can be installed per property.
  • More control and transparency for all parties – developer, property owner, managing agent and tenant.
  • Reduced risk to uncollected utilities.

Why prepaid electricity?

Landlords, managing agents, developers and body corporates are facing an ever increasing exposure to utilities. Utility suppliers (such as Eskom or local municipalities) will demand payment based on usage, while tenants dispute amounts and refuse to pay their electricity accounts. This can result in a serious problem for you!

“The Meter Guys” can offer a real solution to this problem! As an electricity sub-metering prepaid company, “The Meter Guys” assists with the collection of utilities and removes the payment gap between the utility

Once “The Meter Guys” meters are installed, your tenants will be able to buy prepaid electricity recharge tokens for their specific residential units both online and at a number of different shops.

Ensuring tenants are on a ‘pay as you go’ basis, dramatically reduces your exposure to electricity utilities. Moreover all funds collected on your behalf, are held in a trust account, insured by the Estate Agency Affairs Board. At the beginning of each month, these funds will be paid over to the account that you have specified.

How does the transaction work?

  • A tenant will buy a prepaid recharge token from a retail outlet or online.
  • The tenant gives their prepaid meter number to the teller; the teller enters the number into the relevant payment system.
  • At this point Ideal-Prepaid’s server is accessed via a payment channel with a request for a recharge-prepaid token.
  • An encrypted 20-digit recharge token number is sent back to the specific teller.
  • The tenant receives their recharge token and the teller receives payment.
  • The tenant can now punch this 20-digit code into their prepaid meter and use electricity for the amount that has been purchased.
  • This payment that has been received by the teller is then transferred to The Meter Guys trust account – all of this happens automatically in the background.
  • At the beginning of every month, a principal’s statement is calculated and the amount that is due will be paid over into the developer, property owner, managing agent or body corporate’s specified account.

How do prepaid electricity meters work?

You have always wondered how you get electricity from a 20 digits token? Here is what you need to know about prepaid electricity meters.

Understand how electricity consumption is calculated

The monthly electricity consumption is calculated based on KWH – Kilowatt Hour.  One Kilowatt (or 1 Unit) is equal to 1000 watts. A standard globe used in a house is 100 Watts. If that globe is to burn for one hour it will consume 0.1 KWH (or units) of power (100 Watts / 1000). If that same globe were to burn for 24 Hours it would therefore use 2.4 KWh or 2.4 Units of electricity.

Your prepaid electricity meter is able to count the flow of electricity used in KWH. The meter balance decreases as you use electricity. The red LED on the meter flashes as electricity is used: the faster it flashes, the more units are being used.

How is the number of units calculated?

When you request an electricity token, the request is sent to the municipality’s vending system. The vending system checks the tariff applicable to the meter and convert the Rand amount into a specific number of units. Note that most municipalities apply the inclined block tariff, whereby the more you buy within a given month, the more you pay per unit.

What happens when I enter the token into the meter?

In South Africa, most prepaid electricity meters use the STS technology (Standard Transfer Specification). It means that most prepaid meters accept the same code, a 20 digit encrypted code, which prevents fraudulent vouchers from being generated. This code is then transformed by a software inside your prepaid electricity meter into a token. This token is understood by the prepaid meter as an amount of electricity units (KWH).