News

Water – Far More Precious Than You Might Think!

6 December 2022 By Alan

There was once a time when we didn’t really concern ourselves with the cost of water – a leak in the system was seen as a neat way of watering the plants, water was cheap and plentiful. As the grip of climate change, a renewed sense of caring for our scarce resources evolved. A growing population, very few new dams being built, ageing infrastructure and a renewed commitment to providing free water allocations to our indigent population placed relentless upward pressure on the cost of water to our homes and businesses.

Consumers are now tasked with saving and monitoring their usage of water as part of the \new normal’. There are always solutions to assist municipal water consumers in controlling their consumption and this Water Consumption Monitor is cost effective and powerful.

Put it another way we can show:

How much a small leak pushing you into a higher tariff will actually cost you OR
Why people on the highest tariff are not paying more for leaks
How installing a remote water monitor will save you money, time and headaches.

As the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan area marches towards Day Zero tempers are getting frayed, tank suppliers are working overtime and the Municipality sits back expecting a huge windfall from citizens.

Yup, a huge windfall from punitive tariffs AND from ‘non-existent’ sewage charges. The sewage tariff is an absolute mystery to me but my assumption is that as the charge is based on a percentage of the amount of metered water the situation has to be that sewage costs are over inflated in households collecting shower, bath, kitchen sink and other water for recycling and NOT flushing that water into our sewage system.

Lets examine Part C of the Municipal Water Tariffs.

The tariffs for a domestic user under Part C (2021/22 prices including VAT) per kl consumed are:

Step 1 (>0 ? 0,3 kl/d) – R23.93
Step 2 (> 0,3 ? 0,5 kl/d) – R36.57
Step 3 (>0,5? 0.8 kl/d) – R73.14
Step 4 (>0.8 ? 1,0 kl/d) – R121.90
Step 5 (>1,0 ? 1,6 kl/d) – R182.85
Step 6 (>1.6kl/d) – R365.70

Let’s examine the effect of a 1500 litre per month dripping tap leak pushing the consumer into a higher Step on the above tariffs;

Step 1 consumer will pay R170.27 EXTRA
Step 2 consumer will pay R666.26 EXTRA
Step 3 consumer will pay R1370.16 EXTRA
Step 4 consumer will pay R2129.44 EXTRA
Step 5 consumer will pay R9453.35 EXTRA
Step 6 consumer will continue paying R365.70 PER kl or R548.55 EXTRA

The above figures are based on an average month of 30.4375 days and the consumer consuming the limit in each step with the dripping tap amount of 1500 litres added to the total and charged at the next highest Stepped tariff.

What are the safeguards against this:

The cheapest solution is to check your taps, toilets and piping every day for leaks.
Read your water meter every hour if possible.
Install rainwater harvesting systems.
Install private pre-paid water meters to flatlets and other sections of your home/business.
Make use of a Live Water Meter Monitor such as the AUSiot-Monitor.

The Live Water Meter Monitor from Straton Electrical is an easy to install DIY project as it installs into any municipal water meter with a probe receptacle, rendering the monitor non-invasive. Coupled with an online APP (for which there is a monthly charge) you will be notified of any anomalies in water consumption as well as be able to read your water meter consumption quickly and easily.

Couple the savings from not having to actually walk to your meter every hour PLUS those from any leaks you may have and the meter will pay for itself from Day 1.

The AUSiot-Monitor is available online here or from Straton Electrical at 13 Mangold Street, Newton Park Gqeberha, South Africa.

The Straton Electrical Remote Water Monitor Dashboard – read your meter on your own screen and receive alerts about higher than normal consumption, spot leaks and avoid nasty high bills.

Video: Just How Much Does Water Cost?

More Info on Just How Much Does Water Cost? here: https://straton.co.za/Water_Monitor/product/aus%e2%80%91iot-monitor/

3 Phase Prepaid Electricity Meters

6 December 2022 By Alan

Large commercial and industrial premises invariably offer three phase Eskom or Municipal electric power as standard to business.

There is a growing move to sub let sections of a larger commercial and industrial premises to tenants which necessitates the need to measure and charge for electricity consumed by the tenant.

In the case of a three phase supply the amount being used by a tenant can become very large in relation to the actual rental.

The difference between a single and a three phase meter:

Hexing HXE310P PLC Three Phase Prepaid Electricity Meter. Photographer: Straton Prepaid

Typically, all domestic homes and small to medium businesses will have a single phase meter.

With a single phase meter, one alternating current (AC) supplies your property through one single wire. This is enough to power a regular business or home, so long as you don’t have a jacuzzi running 24/7 and a whole fleet of electric vehicles charging outside!

Three phase meters are usually only necessary for larger industrial and commercial businesses that use a lot more electricity. A three phase meter has three wires with three alternating currents (AC) supplying the meter and site, so much more power can be used.

Fortunately three phase prepaid electricity meters are readily available such as the Hexing 3 Phase Prepaid Meter with optional remote keypad. The installation of which does demand a higher grade of knowledge than a single phase prepaid electricity meter and that is where Straton Electrical Prepaid comes in as all installations are done by registered and a properly accredited electricians with years of experience in the commercial and industrial environment.

A little about Prepaid Meters – often referred to as Sub Meters:

Irrespective of the type of sub meter in place, sub meters are privately owned and managed, so the property owner or complex will still have the primary meter in place and will still be responsible for the primary account. Put simply, sub meters are in addition to, and will not be installed without the existence of the primary meter in the first instance. Remember the primary meter is there for Eskom or the Municipality to charge you for what the property has consumed.

Sub meters, just like primary meters, can also either be a post paid meter that is then read each month and the end user billed accordingly or the sub-meter can be prepaid. Sub meters take care of the challenge of fair apportionment as each end user is now responsible to pay for their own consumption. All the revenue collected from the sub meters each month is then used to pay for the primary meter.

How it works:

Tenant purchases access to electricity via an online app/link OR at any Easy Pay outlet – Checkers, Shoprite, Spar, Engen, BP, Pick ‘n Pay etc.
Outlet issues a voucher – printed or SMS
Tenant inputs voucher code
On the 7th of each month landlord receives, in his/her designated bank account, the tenant purchases amount less payment processing/admin fees plus a statement of purchases made in that period.
Landlord settles electricity account with Municipality.

When do Prepaid Meters Really Make Sense?

During water restrictions – such as the present drought in Nelson Mandala Bay
Multi Tenanted buildings
Sectional Title Complexes
Granny Flats
Any subdivided property
Any tenanted property with an existing credit meter.

Purchase a Straton Prepaid Three Phase Prepaid Electricity Meter here: https://straton.co.za/pre-paid/product/prepaid-meter-three-phase-with-separate-ciu/

Prepaid Electricity Meters solve landlords headache

12 September 2017 By Alan

Source: Temporary or Private Prepaid Electricity Meters solve landlord headaches

The pressure on landlords with regards to controlling electricity consumption by tenants increases every day. Landlords could be ultimately held responsible for the consumption of electricity on their properties and this opens them up to abuse by an errant tenant.

A number of solutions are available to landlords:

Invoice the tenant, in arrears, for electricity consumption
Charge a tenant a fixed rate, in advance, for electricity consumption
Install a municipal prepaid meter on a rented property
Install a private prepaid electricity meter

The pros and cons of the above are as follows:

Invoicing the tenant in arrears introduces the twin expense of having to read and administer the billing. The landlord also runs the risk of the tenant not being able to pay the bill and the accompanying collections headache. If the landlord and tenant have a good working relationship then this method is probably the fairest one.

Charging the tenant a fixed rate could be good for either the tenant or the landlord with regards to consumption. At least the landlord will receive payment upfront. Inevitably though the monthly charge is not adjusted timeously, a cold spell or errant tenant pushes up the consumption considerably and the landlord reacts in an unfavourable fashion.

A municipal prepaid meter offers a better solution for a property that has only one tenant. You will need to go in person to a municipal office to apply for a prepaid electricity meter. Once the necessary paperwork is done, fees paid and application approved, you will have to wait for the meter to be installed by the municipality. This can take anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months. If you want to split your meters – i.e. add another meter/s for one or more flatlets on your property you may well be refused or have to submit approved plans. Why? Splitting the supply reduces the consumption and consequently the money collected by the municipality as we pay a higher rate the more we consume (see NMB electricity tariffs at the bottom of this article), also the municipality needs to check if your flatlet is legitimate and you may face higher rates as a result.

Private prepaid electricity meters offer a solution for the landlord with a granny flat on the property or for sectional title complexes with bulk supply that wish to fairly apportion the electricity bill amongst residents/owners. Most private prepaid electricity meters can be installed with little or no change to circuits. If a landlord is looking to use a private prepaid meter then the quickest and easiest path to doing so is to check if:

The entire area that is to be controlled by a private meter can be switched off by one circuit breaker on the main distribution board (normally marked as ‘flatlet’ or ‘outbuildings’)
The flatlet has a sub distribution board with an Earth Leakage
No common circuits are used between the main building and flatlet
The flatlet has it’s own geyser – i.e does not share a hot water pipe with the main house.

If all of the above apply then the installation is a simple and cheap procedure. If not then a quote from your electrician will reveal further expenses.

The landlord then has a number of choices of meter installation ranging from an all in one meter to various anti-tamper versions. In terms of the NERSA rulings a landlord may recover all reasonable costs with regards to electricity consumption by a tenant.

The costs applicable in terms of a private prepaid electricity meter include:

Payment processing fees (tenant pays payment processor – like EasyPay, payment processor pays private metering company and then private metering company pays landlord),
Monitoring of consumption by private metering company,
Administration of landlords collection amount per kWh (on an annual or ad hoc basis) and
A small commission fee.

These amounts range from 10% to 18% and differ between Private Electricity Metering Companies. Naturally the free prepaid meters on offer attract a larger commission in order for the company to recover their costs of supplying and installing the meters. Be wary of companies charging more than 10% as an admin fee.

Of course if you require a temporary electricity metering solution then the product below might be the one:

Temporary Pre-Paid Meter from Straton Prepaid

The electricity charges charges to Non ATTP domestic consumers in Nelson Mandela Bay for 2017/18 are:

0 – 350 kWh: 130.30 c/kWh
350 – 600 kWh: 157.25 c/kWh
600 – 900 kWh: 173.97 c/kWh
900+ kWh: 180.68 c/kWh

Source: Straton Electrical

Prepaid energy has been used for more than 20 years in SA

30 November 2016 By Alan

By Ronald Hermans – Product Manager Connexo Insight & Alliances

Prepaid or Pay-as-you-go (PAYG) energy is set to open up a completely new way of doing business for utility companies. Advanced roadmaps are being developed for payments and communications that can anticipate rather than just follow the customers’ expectations.

The notion of prepayment has long been associated with voice and data telecommunications (the mobile market) which, in its emerging years, has helped those with adverse credit or bad-payment histories to access the latest in technologies, whilst avoiding unmanageable bills and finding themselves in debt. More recently there has been a shift in consumer attitude towards prepayment, with many consumers opting for this method of payment as they see it as a convenient option that fits their lifestyle. Prepaid energy is primed for growth in the utility sector and consumers can now decide how to pay for their energy and even become more energy efficient in their consumption. The decision is often based on transparency in relation to spending and energy consumption and attractive tariff models, enabled through smart metering solutions.

Global trends in prepayment
Globally, there are 40 countries offering prepayment solutions across a variety of sectors. In the U.K. for example, more than 4 million households pay for their energy up front using charged top-up cards, and in Southeast Asia, more than 60% use their mobile phones to pre-pay their energy. In South Africa, prepaid energy has been used for more than 20 years, and conventional prepaid meters are expected to change to smart meters as investments in new metering technology unfold.

Prepayment strategies have been readily adopted as they offer clear advantages for both the utility company and consumer. For utilities prepaid energy offers increased revenues and profitability, whilst enhancing the customer experience. Prepaid energy also allows them to steer consumption by offering tariffs that reflect when consumption should peak and when not. For the customer it means greater transparency with the ability to more closely monitor their energy use, set budgets and avoid unexpected, high energy bills.

Assisting with the adoption of prepaid energy is the move from ‘thick to thin’ implementations of energy meters. Thick implementations are conventional or smart meters with local-only functionality; like a coin slot or card reader. Thin implementations refer to a system in which most of the intelligence on rating and charging is located in a central system, with a combination of a meter data management (MDM) and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) system with smart meters that have a disconnect and load limitation functionality.

What’s the difference? Thick versus thin

Thick meters require more upfront investment when compared to thin meters. In case of thin meters, customers do not need to access the meter to check their remaining credit. They can simply check the account status wherever they are and whenever they want.
Notifications help keeping the customer informed and actually avoids disconnects.
Connected thin meters, together with a corresponding backend IT solution, provide much more flexibility for utilities and customers.
With thin prepayment customers have several options to top up their energy budget (smart phone application, SMS, point-of-sale, PayPal).
In case of thin prepayment, the implementation of new tariffs can be centrally managed and does not require any change on the meter or network components.
A thin meter can be switched from prepaid mode to post-paid mode by configuring the IT system.
The overall business case for thin meters is more likely to be attractive, as it scales much better.

Opportunities for growth
More and more, analysts are exploring the prepayment trend for utility companies. The growing acceptance of prepaid services around the globe is becoming a major driver for prepaid energy solutions. With the deployment of smart meters and their two-way communication functionality, prepaid energy presents a plethora of new opportunities for utilities. There are major gains to be made from new marketing possibilities – enhanced customer satisfaction, retention, consumption steering, and cash flow optimization.

Prepaid energy allows utilities to protect themselves from customers who refuse to (or cannot) pay on time and helps avoid service disconnections, ensuring revenues do not get lost. There are added layers of complexity for integration, so investment is key to increase market adaption. There is an emerging split between traditional utility operations (especially for those in more liberalized markets) and suppliers who are already operating in more customer- and marketing-oriented environments.

The ideal prepayment solution?
In 2015 Elster, now part of Honeywell, teamed up with Redknee – a global provider of real-time monetization and subscriber management solutions across 90 countries worldwide – to deliver an end-to-end prepayment solution for the utilities sector, i.e. Prepay Energy. This strategic partnership combines Honeywell’s smart grid software solutions with elements of the Redknee Connected Suite for smart utility billing. This modular prepayment solution brings together the best of the Honeywell and Redknee solutions portfolios. The components are integrated on the basis of a slim, agile interface allowing for customization and flexibility to best fit the needs of a utility.

Redknee’s flexible and scalable solution provides customer care, real-time analytics, billing and real-time rating for various smart services. It enables service providers to monetize digital services and deliver bundled offers and promotions across various industry verticals, including utilities, smart homes and transportation. The platform also provides partner billing and settlement to manage the complex Internet of things (IoT) partner ecosystem.

Honeywell’s smart grid software solutions provide utilities with a unified and simple approach for securely collecting, processing, storing and managing smart grid data. The software eliminates challenges that arise for utilities operating separate (multi-vendor) data collection and management systems, and its built-in workflow automation and guided decision-making are designed to enhance operator productivity and reduce the cost and complexity of utility operations. Honeywell covers the entire energy value chain from smart meter platforms to meter data management solutions giving utilities confidence that all the elements of Honeywell’s solutions are interoperable.

The ‘central wallet’ approach from the Redknee and Honeywell alliance offers a smart way of realizing prepaid energy. This approach integrates thin smart meters with remote disconnect and reconnect functionality without the need to access the smart meter, use physical tokens, smart cards or keys to transfer credit to the meter. A set of sophisticated self-care tools is available to customers.

By adopting this methodology, customers can be provided with multiple payment channels, price plans and incentives and this enables utilities to enhance their customer service and reduce the risk of debt close to zero. The central wallet approach is less expensive, more tamper resistant and easier to manage from a central platform. It also allows for changes to be made to the account instantly. This solution comprises three different building blocks: a remote metering infrastructure, a multi-vendor data collection system and multi-vendor meter data management system and a central connected prepay management system.

The prepayment solution is driven and enabled through customer engagement via mobile devices. User interactions via a web GUI provides both customer and operational portals, a vending sales client and vending admin portal. The operational support functions consist of templates for standard utility tariffs, debt management, and standard utility web services (that integrate with third-party applications) plus a batch file processing feature and standard reports for CIS and ERP integration.

At the very core of the offering is a real-time rating and charging module that enables the management of top-up modules and provides the necessary tools to manage tariffs online. With the existing integration options, ‘out-of-the-box’ processes and available protocols and meters, Redknee and Honeywell have a strategic prepayment solution that is ready for utilities to cover end-to-end prepaid energy that can be easily embedded into existing utility operations.

By implementing prepaid energy methods, utilities can offer their customers simple and accessible energy solutions that address their day-to-day needs and fit snugly into their everyday lives. Prepaid energy is the future of the energy ecosystem and will sharpen cash flow management through increased operational efficiencies.

Notes to editors
Honeywell’s Connexo represents the central head-end system (HES) and meter data management system (MDM) with different modules and specific functionality such as:

Meter control for command scheduling and follow-up
Data collection with Connexo MultiSense, the multi-vendor data collection engine and framework
Data storage, data unification and validation, estimation and editing of the meter data (VEE)
Connexo Insight (meter data management) features such as usage point support, asset management and operation integration.

The Redknee Connected suite for prepayment energy comprehends:

Integration layers into meter data management systems and customer information systems (CIS)
Customer and account management
Top-up and vending module
Rate plan and price management tools
Customer interaction and self-care modules to provide insight in energy spending, online balances etc.
Reporting and analytics capabilities to monitor customer behaviour and revenue KPI’s.

Full details on Connexo can be found at www.connexo.com and on the Prepayment solution at http://www.connexo.com/applications/prepayment/. The Prepay Energy datasheet can be downloaded here.

Compulsory Prepaid Electricity proposed for all South Africans

29 September 2016 By Alan

Eskom CEO Brian Molefe is of the view that legislation in South Africa should be changed, making it standard to use prepaid electricity.

Speaking to MPs during a parliamentary briefing with Eskom and the Select Committee on Communications and Public Enterprises about the power utility’s tariff hike for 2016 to 2017, Molefe said prepaid electricity would go a long way towards curbing Eskom’s losses due to non-collection and illegal electricity connections.

“I know it’s been said in the media that I – Brian Molefe – am not supposed to say anything about energy policy,” he said in reference to a report that National Treasury was unhappy about his utterances on independent power producers.

“If you would allow me to just say as a lowly official – we think prepaid electricity should be standardised. If we have it through the entire country it would resolve our problems, and the shortest way is by introducing legislation on prepaid.”

Molefe also proposed that Eskom “step in”, install prepaid meters and collect revenue and then pass on to municipalities the portion of collections due to them. “That will take away the burden of collection. So the municipality will still get their revenue, but Eskom becomes the collecting agent.”

Molefe added that Eskom would also be happy if legislation is introduced that allows the utility to appeal energy regulator Nersa’s decisions. “Currently if one party is unhappy – Eskom in this case – about an aspect in the Nersa ruling there is no way we can appeal, except maybe to (go to) the courts. We’d be happy if we could appeal if we feel there was an error in the calculations.”

Consumers who receive power from municipalities paid 7.64% more for electricity since the beginning of July. This comes after Nersa approved a 9.4% hike for 2016 to 2017.

Source: South Africa: Molefe Moots Compulsory Prepaid Electricity for All – allAfrica.com