How does a prepaid submeter work

Ifytex Chibuzor

Hi, I’m Ifytext Chibuzor. I'm an electrician. I have spent over 4 years working with prepaid meters, solar setups, and inverters. I started PowerPek to share real-life solutions to the everyday power issues many of us face with our prepaid meters — from token errors to meter tampering warnings and many others.

Ifytex Chibuzor

Prepaid submeters work by measuring and recording utility consumption within a sub-metered area. It works by managing and tracking utility usage within a section of a property.

So, if you’re one of the readers who has been asking this question: How does a prepaid submeter work? We’ve designed this article to guide you through all you need to know about prepaid submeters and their working principles. Kindly keep a tab as I walk you through this comprehensive guide.

It is worthy of note that the prepaid submeter doesn’t in any way replace the main meter, but it is programmed to work under the main meter and record a portion of energy consumption by individual tenants while the main meter records all the utility usage in the entire property.

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The prepaid submeter is built on the pay-as-you-go model, allowing users to pay for their utility usage upfront, ensuring that utility consumers only pay for the utility they consume.

The prepaid submeter is beneficial to both landlords and tenants. So, as a property owner, it won’t be bad if you get one or more submeters for your property to enable you to manage utility consumption and billing more effectively.

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What is a Prepaid Submeter?

A prepaid submeter is a modern sub-metering device that allows landlords, property managers, etc. to control the utility consumption of their individual tenants.

It is designed such that it measures, monitors, and tracks utility consumption within a section of the property, while the main prepaid meter tracks and records utility consumption for the whole property.

While the main prepaid meter will manage utility consumption for the entire property, the sub-meter will measure the utility consumption for individual units within a large property.

For instance, let’s assume that you have a large property with different rental flats. The main prepaid meter from Eskom or the municipality will monitor and manage utility usage for the whole property, while the sub-meter will measure utility consumption for each rental flat.

It is important to note that this submeter doesn’t replace the main meter; rather, it is installed beneath the central prepaid meter. The primary aim of installing a prepaid submeter on a property is to help property managers collect their utility bills with ease.

Since the submeter measures only the utility consumption within a sub-metered area, property owners don’t need to bother themselves again about asking tenants for a utility bill since the meter works on the pay-as-you-go model, allowing tenants to pay for energy consumption before use, so the submeter can disconnect utility supply once the prepaid token is exhausted. Hence, it saves property managers the stress of requesting utility bills from tenants.

How does a prepaid submeter work?

A prepaid submeter works by monitoring, measuring, tracking, recording, and managing utility consumption for a section of property. It is normally installed below the main meter; hence, it doesn’t replace the main meter. This submeter manages and records utility consumption within a specific area of a property it covers. If you’ve got a large property, you can install more than one submeter on it.

So, as a utility consumer who uses a submeter, you’ll be required to pay for your utility consumption in advance. This means that you will need to buy a utility token and load it into your meter before you will be able to use the utility supply. With this method, you won’t wait until the end of the month to pay your utility bill; rather, you’ll buy utility tokens whenever you need utility supplies.

The prepaid submeter is automated, which means that when your prepaid utility token finishes, your supply will be interrupted until you top it up again. So, the issue of property managers disturbing tenants for utility bills will become history since you will pay for utilities even before using them.

Although the property manager won’t ask tenants for their utility bills at the end of the month, what happens is that as tenants recharge their submeter with a prepaid token, the submeter providers will keep the money generated from the prepaid token. Then, at the end of each month, they will calculate the amount of money generated from token sales for each submeter user and send it to the property manager to enable them to pay the money for utility usage within the month to Eskom or the municipality. The property manager will get the entire utility bill from the main meter and then pay for the energy consumption for the entire property into the designated Eskom or municipality account.

The prepaid submeter is beneficial to both property owners and tenants since it relieves property managers of the stress of collecting monthly utility bills while allowing tenants to only pay for the utility they consume for a specific period of time.

Conclusion

Prepaid sub-meter works by managing electricity consumption with a section of a property. It measures energy usage within a metered-area, and it is normally installed below the main meter.